A man has denied trying to provoke workers at a Middle Eastern restaurant with a Daily Telegraph news crew laying in wait nearby, as the media outlet conceded its approach “could have been better handled”.
It comes as leaked documents revealed the Telegraph had hatched a premeditated plan to tail the man, who is Jewish, as he went “undercover” to “see what it’s like being Jewish” in a string of multicultural Sydney suburbs, covertly filming his interactions via his sunglasses.
The man has denied he was filming using smart glasses at the time of the interaction in question.
The man’s entourage from the newspaper included senior reporter Danielle Gusmaroli, along with a videographer and photographer.
At the centre of the controversy is an exchange the man had with staff at Egyptian restaurant Cairo Takeaway, reported by this masthead on Friday.
The restaurant is a cult favourite on Newtown’s Enmore Road and has been a vocal supporter of Palestine on its social media pages.
CCTV footage shows the Jewish man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wearing a Star of David cap as he enters the premises and orders a drink at about midday on Tuesday.
What happened next is hotly disputed.
According to the restaurant, the man made a series of provocative remarks to staff, in an apparent attempt to goad them into a heated argument and film them without their consent.
It posted a lengthy account of the alleged dialogue to its Instagram page.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Friday that if the restaurant’s version was correct, he was appalled.
“Deliberately provoking people in some pathetic game to try and get a reaction is irresponsible and runs counter to the national interest,” he said.
However, on Friday the Jewish man vehemently rejected the restaurant’s version of events as “wholly incorrect” and “scandalously false”.
In his version of events, via his lawyer, Rebekah Giles, the man says he entered Cairo Takeaway and ordered a drink, and details an uneventful exchange with staff until he went to leave.
The man says he said, “Thank you so much” as he left, and a female worker replied in a “surly tone” without looking at him and said: “Hmmm … pleasure”.
The man then claims to have asked, “Is everything OK?” to which he says the staff member did not reply.
The man, his lawyer says, then asked what was in the drink, saying it was delicious, and the female staff member replied it contained hibiscus flower and she hoped he enjoyed it.
The man says a Telegraph employee then approached the female worker, asking why she was uncomfortable with the man’s presence in the restaurant.
The man says he felt he had offended the woman, before she accused him of trying to provoke an antisemitic outburst and called him an idiot.
She went on to become “aggressive and heated”, swearing and threatening to call the police, the man alleges, while a second staffer said he should “have shame”.
The man claims he and the Telegraph reporters tried to walk away but the two staffers followed them up the street.
A mural in the colours of the Palestinian flag on the wall of Cairo Takeaway restaurant in Enmore.Credit: Kate Geraghty
The female staffer accused the man of sparking division and said she had a problem with “divisive journalism”, while he apologised that the staffer had been upset by his appearance.
“Our client agreed that there should be peace on both sides, to which the female staffer replied, ‘No, you don’t’,” the man’s lawyer said.
The man said he continued to be abused and berated by the staffers until the group was finally able to leave the scene.
The lawyer said her client was “extremely offended” at the female staffer’s suggestions he was bringing a conflict from overseas to Australia.
“Our client agreed to participate in the social experiment given the rising antisemitism presently being experienced by Australians,” the lawyer said.
“These sorts of experiments are highly effective in showcasing forms of discrimination both here and overseas.”
The lawyer demanded Cairo Takeaway delete their social media posts about the matter, make an unequivocal apology and issue a public retraction of their claims, threatening to take defamation action against them if they failed to do so.
It was sent as an internal Telegraph document emerged on Friday, pitching the story as an “undercover operation” where a Jewish man would “see what it’s like being Jewish in Sydney”.
“Will secretly film with his video glasses,” said the Telegraph’s “topic plan” document, first published by Crikey but verified by this masthead.
“The aim is to walk down main streets in Newtown, Blacktown, Bankstown, Arncliffe (might not do arncliffe it the worst perhaps) and film peopls [sic] reactions to this Jewish man in their neighbourhood.
“Needs discreet photos of the guy walking down these streets to accompany the yarn.”
Daily Telegraph editor Ben English, pictured at last year’s Bradfield Oration, admitted the newspaper’s approach could have been better handled. Credit: Rhett Wyman
The Telegraph has not published any articles about the altercation at Cairo.
Editor Ben English said that, like other media, the outlet had been reporting on the rise of antisemitism and investigating how it is affecting the daily lives of Jewish people in Sydney.
“The Telegraph never intended to provoke an incident at the Cairo Takeaway restaurant in Enmore, which was one of multiple venues across Sydney we visited, nor to report that its staff are antisemitic,” he said.
“The Daily Telegraph acknowledges our approach could have been better handled.”
Officers from the Inner West Police Area Command investigated a complaint that a staff member had been intimidated at the restaurant but did not identify any criminal offences.
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