Woollahra Council stands by employee over online Israel comments after public complaints

A Sydney council is standing by one of its employees after comments made about Israel on her social media page generated complaints from Jewish community leaders and residents.

A Sydney council is standing by one of its employees after the worker took to social media to liken Israel to “parasites”, and called for “Zionism” to be defeated.

Nadia Messaoudine, a recruitment adviser for Woollahra Council, has sparked a string of complaints to the council over posts and comments posted on her publicly viewable LinkedIn page.

Woollahra Council – which has one of Sydney’s largest Jewish resident populations – says it is aware of the posts, but has determined the posts have not breached its code of conduct policies.

Ms Messaoudine, whose LinkedIn page shows she has worked as a contract recruitment adviser for the council since last year, has made comments including “free the world from the clutches of Zionists”.

In another post made to her 3000-plus followers, Ms Messaoudine wrote “Israel is the rape capital of the (Middle East)” and described the Israel attacks on Gaza as “equivalent (to) Hitler’s death marches”.

Woollahra Council has launched a review into the comments.

“Let’s kill them all (Zionism),” she wrote in another post.

In response to another video appearing to depict an Israeli soldier, Ms Massoudine wrote “they are sub human” and “brain washed from birth to hate Arabs with every fibre of (their) body”.

“They are rogue psychopaths on a never ending murderous rampage,” she wrote.

In another post appearing to show a video of an Israeli politician, Ms Messaoudine wrote: “Parasitism may be defined as a condition in which one organism (the parasite) either harms its host or in some way lives at the expense of the host.”

There are also other posts which Jewish community members say has generated “distress” for residents of the local government area at a time when many Jewish residents are feeling alienated.

The posts have generated complaints to the council.

All posts on Ms Messaoudine’s LinkedIn page come with the caveat that: “The views and opinions expressed on my LinkedIn page are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer.”

Robert Gregory, chief executive of the Australian Jewish Association, believes many of the posts have “crossed a line”.

“The council should conduct an investigation into its hiring policies because these rants have been posted publicly and in my view it’s a major issue for the reputation of the council,” he said.

Robert Gregory, from the Australian Jewish Association.

“Especially at a time when the Jewish community is feeling alienated, the posts have generated a lot of distress in the community.

“The posts at the very least should be removed.”

Woollahra Council said in a statement it would take no action in relation to the comments.

“Personal views expressed by staff via social media are in no way a reflection of the organisation’s views, which has been stated on the staff member’s LinkedIn account page and there has been no breach of our code of conduct,” a council spokeswoman said in a statement.

The Daily Telegraph contacted Ms Messaoudine for comments about the posts but did not receive a response.