Victoria Police’s evidence for Israel ‘gag’ order unveiled

The evidence Victoria Police has used to push for an intervention order against Israeli campaigner Zara Cooper has been revealed.

Sarah Schwartz, leader of the Jewish Council of Australia. Picture: Instagram

Victoria Police has been granted more time to investigate the online dissemination of alleged harmful content against Jewish Council of Australia leader Sarah Schwartz, as details of the available evidence can be revealed.

The Australian has obtained 26 pages of evidence police will use in the case against Israeli advocate Zara Cooper, which they alleged had put Ms Schwartz’s safety at risk and severely affected her mental health.

A post Victoria Police included in the intervention order application.

It comes as an attempt to end the legal fight, which was described as “frivolous” by lawyers acting for Ms Cooper, was denied at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, with police granted an additional 44 days to investigate.

Magistrate Michelle Hodgson said she was not satisfied that striking out the matter during the first mention hearing was appropriate and that both parties ­needed time to review the case.

Victoria Police’s intervention has set up a landmark legal case, where officers will seek to convince a magistrate to ban Ms ­Cooper from publishing anything online which critiques Ms Schwartz. A total of 52 screenshots were captured by Acting Sergeant Stuart Hall, the informant in this case, and will be used in court to justify an application for an intervention order.

Acting Sergeant Hall alleged that the nature of Ms Cooper’s posts had “commenced criticism and belittling of the protected person and the Jewish Council of Australia”.

He also alleged that the posts included content that called Ms Schwartz a “kapo” (Jewish Nazi collaborator), and had other Nazi references, imagery of Ms Schwartz as a rat, and imagery Ms Schwartz “on a train going to concentration camps”. The claims of Nazi references were strongly ­opposed by Ms Cooper’s lawyers.

Screenshot of evidence used in the allegation of ‘imagery of protected person on a train going to concentration camps’.

Screenshots of the material provided to The Australian shows Ms Cooper had posted on her “clammy–fraud” account a rat emoji under a caption that read: “Sarah Schwartz is involved with at least two other Instagram pages that spout almost identical rhetoric to that of the Jewish Council of Australia Instagram page. So why has she taken the further step of creating an entirely new page which presents as professional, ­official and representative of the entire Jewish community?”

It is unclear if the allegation of purporting Ms Schwartz to be a rat was made from this post and The Australian is not suggesting it did.

Another post in the application shows a picture of Ms Schwartz’s face plastered on a train behind a white background with the caption: “Dear Sarah, in case you get confused again. This isn’t a threat, and it isn’t anti-Semitism either.”

The Australian is not suggesting this image was used in the allegation of using an “imagery of the protected person on a train going to concentration camps”, merely that it was the only image of a train in the application ­provided.

In the allegation of calling Ms Schwartz a “kapo”, Ms Cooper had asked her followers on Instagram to “suggest a more appropriate name for the Jewish Council of Australia”, to which a number of people had responded. One person wrote: “Jewish Kapo of Australia”, with Ms Cooper reposting the response and stating: “I love that Kapo is singular.” Another person wrote: “Kapo Council”.

The matter was adjourned until May 9 for a directions hearing. Ms Hodgson has ordered Victoria Police to file a brief of allegations relied upon by April 16 and a copy of any material relied upon. During the first hearing of the matter on Tuesday, police prosecution backflipped on their decision to apply for an interim order, after last week indicating they would seek one.

Ms Cooper has criticised police for becoming involved “in what is a political debate ­between two Jewish women who have different views about how to combat anti-Semitism”.