Randa Abdel-Fattah wants $300,000 over ‘anti-Semite’ claims

Randa Abdel-Fattah is demanding a huge payout and an apology after it was revealed she organised a protest rally at which children were made to lead others in anti-Israel chants.

Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah speaking at a pro-Palestine protest at Macquarie University in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

Pro-Palestinian activist Randa Abdel-Fattah is demanding $300,000 and an apology from The Australian after the newspaper revealed she organised a protest rally at which children were made to lead others in anti-Israel chants.

The Australian has categorically rejected Dr Abdel-Fattah’s defamation claim, pointing out that she led children in chants that were widely understood to be anti-Semitic.

Videos of a “kids excursion” to a pro-Palestine encampment protest at the University of Sydney in April showed children, who look younger than 10, leading each other in anti-Israel chants, in a move described by the nation’s peak Jewish body as “perverse and inhumane”.

Dr Abdel-Fattah claps and smiles as one child is encouraged to lead the crowd in a chant in ­Arabic translated as: “From the river to the sea / Palestine shall be Arab / Israel is a thief”.

Responding to a concerns notice from Dr Abdel-Fattah – a precursor to defamation action – lawyers acting for The Australian said the chant was “highly offensive” and anti-Semitic.

“The chant can only convey a meaning that Jews do not have a right to exist in Israel and that Jewish people are inferior to Arab people.

The reference to Israel being a “thief” was the adoption of a well- known historic trope which suggested Jews were thieves, and was plainly racist and anti-Semitic, the lawyers said.

“It is quite extraordinary that your client would encourage children to sing this chant. Does your client seriously expect the Australian courts to censor discussion on these matters?”

Lawyer Adam Houda, for Dr Abdel-Fattah, said The Australian’s articles contained false imputations that the Macquarie University academic “compelled children to chant in ­support of Palestinian suicide bombings that killed and maimed thousands of Israeli civilians, … groomed children for violence and indoctrinated them into ­extremism”.

The defamation threat from Dr Abdel-Fattah comes as Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi threatens to sue The Australian over a Johannes Leak cartoon she claimed was racist – a claim rejected by the newspaper, which vowed to vigorously defend both actions in the courts if proceedings were issued.

The Australian’s response to Dr Abdel-Fattah recalled more than a dozen recent statements and actions by the self-described “human rights advocate”, including, in the days after the October 7 attacks, when Dr Abdel-Fattah changed her X profile image to a paraglider with a chute in the style of the Palestinian flag, “clearly endorsing the horrific and depraved massacre at the Re’im music festival in which 364 people were brutally murdered and 40 were taken hostage”.

In the days after the October 7 attacks she described the murder of about 1200 people, and the taking of 240 hostages as ­“demanding freedom” and ­“resisting occupation”.

She denied Hamas was a terror organisation, stating: “I don’t see them as a terrorist organisation”, and asked “what is the purpose of a terrorist label here?”

She willingly appeared as a panellist at an event alongside known Hamas terrorist Basem Naim, and retweeted a post – since deleted – stating that Israel did not have the right to exist.

She also participated in the ­“doxxing” of more than 600 ­Jewish creatives by releasing their ­details to her 30,000 followers on social media, saying Zionists had “no claim or right to cultural ­safety”.

“There cannot be any serious dispute that many people in the community consider your client’s views to be highly offensive,” The Australian’s lawyers said.

The articles were plainly protected by various defences, including truth, contextual truth, opinion and public interest.

In addition to her demand for $300,000 in compensation, Dr Abdel-Fattah seeks legal costs, removal of the online articles and a public apology.

Mr Houda said Dr Abdel-Fattah’s employer had come under pressure to sack her, there were calls to defund her research and she received abusive emails.