‘River to the sea’ call by Mary Kostakidis at heart of anti-Semtism court battle

A racial discrimination case against former newsreader Mary Kostakidis will probe whether there is racist intent behind anti-Zionism.

Journalist and former SBS presenter Mary Kostakidis speaks during a rally in Martin Place, Sydney. Picture: AAP

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A racial discrimination case against former SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis will provide legal judgment on whether the phrase “from the river to the sea” implies Israel has no right to exist, and if criticism of the state of Israel is ­inherently anti-Semitic.

Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive Alon Cassuto launched a Federal Court case against Kostakidis in April for ­reposting a speech by now-­deceased Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Mr Cassuto first took his complaint Human Rights Commission in July last year. He said he was “considering options” in January when the pair failed to reach agreement over remediation in the HRC. At the same time Kostakidis made an online apology without admission, saying she accepted “that some of (Nasrallah’s) comments may be seen as anti-Semitic but that is not a barrier to reporting them”.

In legal documents provided to The Australian by the Federal Court, Mr Cassuto – an Australian-Israeli dual citizen – argued Kostakidis could not claim she shared the post in her capacity as a journalist, and if she had shared the speech for reporting purposes “she ought to have disavowed the contents of the video and made clear that she did not endorse those views”.

Kostakidis on the SBS World News set in 2000.

Her post from January last year was paired with the caption “The Israeli govt getting some of its own medicine.”

In the video, Nasrallah urged Israeli dual citizens to flee the Middle East, saying they have no ­“future … from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea”. “Here, it’s going to be very difficult for you if you want to be secure, if you want to feel secure. (If) you have an American passport, go back to the United States. (If) you have a British passport, go back to the UK,” Nasrallah said.

In his statement of claim, Mr Cassuto – represented by Arnold Bloch Leibler – argues the video’s contents are hateful towards Israelis and Jewish Australians by implying they are “not indigenous to Israel and ought ‘go back’ to other places”.

It constitutes anti-Semitism ­according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition which Australia abides by, he argues, “because it denies the right of the Jewish people to self-determination and justifies the harming of Jews”.

A letter to Kostakidis by ABL partner Raphael Leibler argues her post conveys four central messages: “Jewish Israelis deserve to be, and may soon be, eliminated or ethnically cleansed”; “There is no future for Jews in Israel”; “Jews are unsafe in Israel”; and “Jews are not indigenous to Israel and should return to their purported countries of origin.”

“As the face of SBS for many years, you were entrusted by Australians nationwide as a symbol of truth and integrity,” Mr Leibler wrote.

A post from the trove of evidence by Ms Kostakidis. Photo: Twitter / X

“Since 7 October, you have regrettably misused your considerable profile to spread hateful and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Your public campaign of vilification has caused harm to Mr Cassuto and to members of Jewish and Israeli communities in Australia.”

Also cited by Mr Cassuto were 61 tweets by Kostakidis. Across these tweets she writes and shares messages suggesting there is a “Nazi-Zionist alliance”, that Mossad had prior knowledge of 9/11 and did not intervene, and that convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was a Mossad “honeypot”.

Mr Cassuto is seeking an apology from Kostakidis, the reimbursement of legal costs and acknowledgment that she breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to publicly offend, ­insult, humiliate or intimidate a person or group based on their race, nationality or ethnicity.

In making her apology last January, Kostakidis said the complaint had incited “a number of highly defamatory and gratuitous comments”. She has fundraised her defence and will be represented by XD Law & Advocacy, a mixed law and media firm once partnered by former senator Nick Xenophon. “The Australian Zionist Federation is weaponising Australian law in an attempt to curb criticism of Israel for its acts of genocide. I won’t be intimidated by them in the face of the slaughter of tens of thousands of children, hundreds of doctors, nurses, journalists and other civilians,” ­Kostakidis said in a statement.

“Imagine a situation where we can criticise our own government’s policies and actions but not those of another state, depending on how powerful and cashed up their lobby groups are.”