Legal watchdog urged to stand down barrister who claimed Hamas were ‘absolute heroes’

The legal watchdog has been urged to stand down a Sydney barrister who praised Hamas and says ‘Zionists … are a stain on humanity which needs to be wiped out.’

Nicholas Poynder, a Frederick Jordan Chambers barrister and a former senior legal officer with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, was reported to the commission following several social media posts condemning Israel and lauding Hamas as “the defender of Palestinians”.

The legal watchdog has been urged to stand down a Sydney barrister who has praised Hamas terrorists as “absolute heroes” and said “Zionists … are a stain on humanity which needs to be wiped out”,

Nicholas Poynder, a Frederick Jordan Chambers barrister and a former senior legal officer with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, was reported to the Legal Services Commissioner on Tuesday following several social media posts condemning Israel and lauding Hamas as “the defender of Palestinians”.

He also publicly supported controversial comments made by NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong, who in a video referred to the “tentacles” of the “Jewish lobby”.

The complaint, filed this week by Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory to the Legal Services Commissioner, claims Mr Poynder’s social media posts constitute “serious anti-Semitic incitement and vilification against the Jewish people”.

“The barrister – an officer of the court – publicly supports a listed terrorist organisation that has openly committed the most egregious and perverted and depraved crimes against humanity … and that, in accordance with its founding charter, calls for the murder of all Jews,” Mr Gregory wrote in his letter to the Legal ­Services Commissioner.

Mr Gregory cites an “extraordinary surge in anti-Semitism” precipitated by the “savage, sadistic and barbaric massacre of over 1200 innocent people perpetrated by Hamas in Israel” on October 7.

He argues that Mr Poynder’s presence on X has contributed to opening the “floodgates of anti-Semitism” and accused the migration barrister of “inciting serious violence against members of the Jewish community … giving rise to extremely serious safety concerns on the part of the members of the Jewish community”.

“(The posts) demonstrate that the barrister is not a fit and proper person to practise as a barrister in NSW, and is not a fit and proper person to be an officer of the court, as the barrister’s open and public support for a listed terrorist organisation, and his anti-Semitic incitement and vilification against the Jewish people, is wholly inconsistent with conduct expected of a barrister in Australia in 2024, and that such conduct brings the barrister’s profession in Australia and NSW into disrepute,” Mr Gregory wrote.

In one post on December 9, Mr Poynder described Hamas as “absolute heroes”, and 10 days later, he outwardly supported the terrorist group as “the defender of Palestinians”.

“I used to support Israel, provided there was a two-state solution. Then I lost faith in that, and called for Greater Israel (with equal rights for all),” he wrote.

“Then, I said Israel has lost the right to exist. Now, I support Hamas as the defender of Palestinians.”

Mr Gregory described this post as “particularly perverse – and obscene – and, from the perspective of the Jewish community and, in our opinion, all right-thinking members of society, disgraceful, for the barrister to support Hamas publicly after Hamas committed the sickest and most savagely depraved massacre in Israel of innocent non-belligerents on 7 October 2023, a massacre that included widespread sexual assault of the most perverted character.”

In another post, on February 5, Mr Poynder wrote: “Israelis are monsters. They no longer deserve their own country.”

Mr Poynder also backed NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong after she told a Palestine Justice Movement forum in Bankstown that “the Jewish lobby and the Zionist lobby are infiltrating into every single aspect of what is ethnic community groups … Their tentacles reach into the areas that try and influence power and I think we need to call that out.”

Ms Leong’s comments – which were condemned “unequivocally” by Anthony Albanese – were praised by Mr Poynder, who wrote on X: “To be fair, she corrected herself from ‘Jewish lobby’ to ‘Zionist Lobby’. And on that point she’s 100 per cent correct. Zionists and the Zionist Lobby are a stain on humanity which needs to be wiped out.”

Mr Gregory’s complaint cites another of Mr Poynder’s posts, in which he quotes writer Caitlin Johnston: “Get out of the middle east. Get the f..k out. Stop backing genocide in Gaza, stop murdering people to shore up domination of world resources, and leave. Leave before you unleash something far worse than the nightmare you’ve already inflicted on our species.”

The post, Mr Gregory alleges, shows Mr Poynder is “calling for the expulsion of Jews from ­Israel – notwithstanding the fact that there was an unbroken Jewish presence in Israel for a period in excess of 3000 years”.

Mr Gregory said Mr Poynder should be stood down from the bar “for the protection of the ­Australian public, including the Jewish community”.

“Unless dealt with decisively, the publication by the barrister … will inevitably bring the entire legal profession in NSW in general, and the barrister’s profession in particular, into disrepute,” he wrote in the complaint.

Mr Poynder did not respond to a request for comment.