Former SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis ‘spread anti-Semitic hate’

The former SBS news presenter is facing claims she posted anti-Semitic hate speech, including video of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah saying there was no place for Jews in Israel.

Former SBS presenter Mary Kostakidis speaks during a rally in Sydney. Picture: AAP

Australia’s racial vilification laws will be put to the test in a complaint against former SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis, who is facing allegations she posted anti-Semitic hate speech on social media to her 30,000 followers, including reposting a video of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in which he said there was no place for Jews in Israel.

The complaint, filed with the Australian Human Rights Commission, claimed Ms Kostakidis engaged in a “campaign of vilification” that has caused harm to members of Jewish and Israeli communities in Australia.

On Monday, she denied ever inciting hatred against Jewish people, saying the legal action was an attempt to silence her and an attack on free speech.

Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive Alon Cassuto, a dual Australian-Israeli citizen, alleged Ms Kostakidis had breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful to publicly offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate a person or group on the basis of race, colour or national or ethnic origin.

Law firm Arnold Bloch Liebler said in a letter to Ms Kostakidis that she had engaged in “dishonest descriptions” of the events of October 7, including a post three days later suggesting Israel knowingly allowed the Hamas attack to occur to justify a retaliatory war; and she had denied ­Israeli women were raped in the attack.

Social media posts by Mary Kostakidis. Picture: Twitter / X

“As the face of SBS for many years, you were entrusted by Australians nationwide as a symbol of truth and integrity,” the letter said. “Since 7 October, you have regrettably misused your considerable profile to spread hateful and antiSemitic rhetoric.”

The letter notes Ms Kostakidis reposted a video of former weapons inspector Scott Ritter in which he supports Hamas and says: “Do I condemn Hamas? Hell no!”

Ms Kostakidis had also reposted tweets claiming pedophile Jeffery Epstein was an agent of Israel who “ran a honeypot for Mossad” and in June shared a theory that Israel was responsible for the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy, asking “Why has Israel been avoided when discussing the Kennedy assassinations?”

The letter cites the Nasrallah video as an “unlawful’ post under section 18C, saying the Hezbollah leader advocated “the ethnic cleansing of Jewish Israelis in Israel” and that the posts were “threatening, offensive, insulting and intimidating to those of Jewish or Israeli national or ethnic origin”.

Arnold Bloch Liebler gave Ms Kostakidis until last Friday to agree to publish an apology and undertake not to repeat the comments but filed the complaint with the Human Rights Commission on Monday after she failed to comply.

Social media post featuring Jeffrey Epstein by Mary Kostakidis. Picture: Twitter / X

Responding to the claims on X, Ms Kostakidis denied inciting ­hatred against Jews, claiming the 18C complaint was a bid by the Zionist Federation to silence her and an “attempt to frame me as a rape and Holocaust denier”.

“This because I have been sharing the reports of extremely highly regarded independent journalists who have written about the absence of credible evidence of the claims of ‘systemic, widespread rape’ by Hamas on Oct 7.

“To be clear, I have never said there was No Rape. It is something I could never say – it would be a nonsense for anyone to make such a definitive statement.”

Ms Kostakidis said she had made it clear she was referring to claims of systemic rape.

She defended sharing the Nasrallah video, saying: “The statements he is making are identical to statements made by the Israeli leadership and members of the Knesset: Israel for Jews only, Israel from the River to the Sea – the latter phrase is in a founding document of the state of Israel, and in a the map used by (Benjamin) ­Netanyahu.”

Ms Kostakidis presented the SBS news for 20 years before quitting in 2007, lodging a claim for breach of contract and alleging she had been bullied by fellow presenter Stan Grant.

The matter was settled out of court.

Conservative columnist Andrew Bolt was found to have contravened s. 18C in 2011 after allegations he had conveyed offensive messages about fair-skinned Aboriginal people, but most 18C cases have failed, with courts taking a narrow approach in applying the section. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is drafting hate speech laws to include criminal rather than civil penalties.