Moutia Elzahed ­case a victory against Islamist hypocrisy, by Paul Maley.

Elzahed was suing the police for excessive force, on the grounds they were too rough during anti-terrorist raids in September 2014.

Elzahed refused to stand for the judge or remove her hijab while giving evidence. Judge Audrey Balla wanted to gauge the credibility of her evidence and reasoned that a person’s facial expression was crucial in doing so. Balla made several accommodations for Elzahed’s unyielding religiosity, including allowing her to give evidence via videolink to a courtroom closed to everyone but the judge and the lawyers.

One suspects this is a level of cultural sensitivity Elzahed would not have extended to Balla had the shoe been on the other foot.

The point is Elzahed had enough ­respect for the court to use it as a means of soaking the NSW Police Force, but not enough to rise to her feet whenever Balla entered the room. Elzahed lost her case, and rightly so.

This is hardly an isolated phenomenon. Western Islamists routinely exploit the protections, comforts or generosity of the liberal democratic state in order to bring about its downfall.