Forget Hamas, glass-jaw Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi declares war on satire: ‘Cartoon will cost me votes’
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has threatened to sue The Australian for defamation and demanded an apology over a Johannes Leak cartoon.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has threatened to sue The Australian for defamation and demanded an apology over a Johannes Leak cartoon that portrayed her wearing a Hamas headband and whitewashing a wall bearing the words ‘October 7’, claiming the depiction was “racist” and would cost her votes at the next election.
The Australian has told Senator Faruqi it will not accede to any of her “grossly hypocritical” demands, and that the cartoon – which it argues is clearly protected by truth and honest opinion defences – will remain online.
The cartoon, published on Monday last week, shows the Greens deputy leader using a roller to apply white wash to obscure the date of the Hamas terror attack on Israel in which almost 1200 people died, while saying: “What’s the big deal? It’s just a bit of paint …” The cartoon followed Senator Faruqi’s repeated refusal on the ABC’s Insiders to call for the terror group to be dismantled, saying that was up to the Palestinian people to decide.
Senator Faruqi said the Greens were not demanding any change to the listing of Hamas as a terrorist organisation but “it’s not up to me to say who should be gone or not”.
The cartoon also references Senator Faruqi’s attempt to play down the defacing of the Australian War Memorial with pro-Palestinian graffiti as nothing more than “some paint on a building”.
In its response to Senator Faruqi’s lawyers, The Australian said it was “surprised and bemused that your client is threatening legal action given her comments can only be understood to mean that the barbaric Hamas regime, a listed terrorist group and the perpetrators of the October 7 atrocity, has some legitimacy if it is supported by the Palestinian people”.
In the circumstances, the cartoon was “somewhat mild”, the paper said, and in any event was part of an important political discussion.
“If your client disagrees with stories published in the newspaper, our client invites her to continue to engage in political debate rather than attempting to shut down that debate by legal threats, and wasting valuable public court resources for futile proceedings.”
Senator Faruqi’s refusal to declare that Hamas should not play a role in a future Palestinian state has been widely condemned, including by Anthony Albanese, who said the Greens’ position on Israel was “appalling”.
“If a senator is asked to support a terrorist organisation … it is pretty clear what she should have answered – which is Hamas has no role,” the Prime Minister said.
The 61-year-old Pakistan-born senator has courted controversy, including posting a since-deleted photo on Instagram of herself with pro-Palestinian protesters, one of whom is holding a blatantly anti-Semitic sign depicting an Israeli flag tossed into a bin, with the words “keep the world clean”.
Senator Faruqi’s threat to sue over Leak’s cartoon will revive memories of the controversy sparked eight years ago over the cartoon drawn by his late father, Bill Leak, highlighting the problems of neglect and abuse in Aboriginal communities, which was claimed by some to be a racist depiction. That cartoon prompted a later-withdrawn complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission alleging it breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
Last week, Marque Lawyers managing partner Michael Bradley, acting for Senator Faruqi, sent The Australian a concerns notice – a precursor to defamation action – claiming the Johannes Leak cartoon conveyed imputations that Senator Faruqi was “affiliated with Hamas and that she therefore wants to hide information about Hamas’ conduct in Israel on October 7 from the public”.
Mr Bradley, who is the legal correspondent for the Crikey website, is also representing Senator Faruqi in her case against Pauline Hanson, after the One Nation leader told her to “piss off back to Pakistan”.
Senator Hanson blasted off the angry tweet after Senator Faruqi declared, on the day Queen Elizabeth II died, that she “cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised people”.
Senator Faruqi is claiming Senator Hanson’s tweet breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.
The Greens senator has repeatedly condemned the Albanese government for being “complicit in genocide” by refusing to sanction Israel over the war in Gaza.
In his concerns notice to The Australian, Mr Bradley said Senator Faruqi was not supportive of Hamas and had never made any statement to that effect.
“To depict her as the cartoon does is false and extremely damaging to her reputation,” he said.
“The cartoon does a disservice to and totally misrepresents Senator Faruqi’s balanced views on the rights of Palestinian people.”
Mr Bradley also claimed the cartoon was “patently racist, by design and effect. It adopts racist stereotypes of Muslims and women of colour, with the self-evident intention of vilifying Senator Faruqi because of her race, colour and religion.”
Mr Bradley offers no explanation of why the cartoon is said to be racist or how it stereotypes Muslims and women of colour but claims it “constitutes hate speech”. “The cartoon has the potential to harm Senator Faruqi’s reputation in the future by causing Australians not to vote in her favour in the next Senate election, because they think that she is affiliated with a terrorist organisation,” he said.
As well as apologising to Senator Faruqi and deleting the cartoon, The Australian should also pay her legal costs of $3500, Mr Bradley said.
The Australian has rejected all of Senator Faruqi’s demands.
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Lawyers acting for the newspaper pointed out that Senator Faruqi was asked seven different questions in the Insiders interview giving her an opportunity to state that Hamas should be dismantled and refused to do so.
“She deliberately avoided answering those questions or provided evasive and overly politicised answers”, said the letter from Thomson Geer Lawyers. “A rational observer would likely take your client’s position to be a tacit endorsement of Hamas and the October 7 attacks as a form of ‘legitimate resistance’ against the state of Israel. Your client’s attempts to downplay her comments as merely supporting self-determination by the Palestinian people does not withstand scrutiny.
“Hamas calls for the obliteration of Israel and the annihilation of all Jews. It is a barbaric and murderous regime that your client accepts is a terrorist organisation. Yet her comments suggest that Hamas could have some legitimacy if enough people in the region support it. Her position is, of course, completely untenable.”
Senator Faruqi had wilfully put herself at the centre of debate on these issues and had courted media attention in order to engage in that debate, the letter said.
“It is not in dispute that Hamas was responsible for the murder of over 1100 people in the October 7 attacks, as well as the kidnapping of approximately 250 people (including children), and horrific incidents of violence and sexualised violence. It is difficult to understand how your client can take any position other than complete condemnation of Hamas and its activities, and call for it to be dismantled, particularly when she agrees it is a terrorist organisation.”
The letter asked: “Would she take the same approach with other listed terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda, Islamic State or Boko Haram?”
The Australian categorically rejected that the cartoon was racist. “It is illustrated in Mr Leak’s usual style which has been applied to countless public figures before your client, and which will be applied to countless more after her. Your client is a sitting member of parliament. She is not immune from political satire because of her race.
“The suggestion that the cartoon is racist is completely baseless and is nothing more than an attempt by your client to avoid legitimate criticism.”
The Australian’s lawyers said the cartoon was plainly protected by truth and honest opinion defences, and by the Lange qualified privilege on discussion of political matters, as well as a public interest defence.
“It is difficult to conceive of stronger examples of these defences,” said the letter from Thomson Geer.
The lawyers said Senator Faruqi’s claims to advocate for free speech were “grossly hypocritical” when she herself “is now using her status and position as an Australian senator in order to stifle public discussion she doesn’t like”.
The Australian would not be deterred from reporting on the Israel / Palestine conflict as a result of Senator Faruqi’s legal threats, the letter said.
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