The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) announced on September 11 that it was dropping its Federal Court case against journalist Mary Kostakidis.
It had alleged the former SBS World News presenter was an antisemite, because of a social media post she had made.
ZFA CEO Alon Cassuto said he was dropping the case, lodged in March 31 last year.
The ZFA said Cassuto sought to stop Kostakidis posting, but he was not successful. However, he is now “satisfied” by what he has achieved and is going to focus on the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. This ended a complaint Cassuto first lodged with the Australian Human Rights Commission in July 2024, that charged Kostakidis with having discriminated against Jewish people because of her criticism of Israel.
The court ruled on September 11, with each party’s consent, that the case be dismissed with no order on costs.
This is not a unique attempt to silence critics of Israel over its genocide in Gaza. Zionists have been using lawfare to intimidate critics into silence since 2023.
Kostakidis explained how this operates in an article she wrote after the case had been closed.
“Over two years ago, in July 2024, in the midst of Israel’s genocidal assault on a captive people, a self-described ‘proud Zionist’ launched legal proceedings against me in the Australian Human Rights Commission – a requirement under Australian law before filing in the Federal Court under Racial Discrimination legislation when AHRC mediation fails.”
She said the newly-appointed CEO Cassuto addressed a media conference in 2024, which featured ZFA chair Jeremy Leibler, specifically setting out the purpose of lawfare proceedings. He said the case against her was intended to send “a very strong message”.
Kostakidis said the post that the ZFA focused on was her repost of another message on X that featured footage of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warning Israelis they were not safe. She said she considers this post was used to argue that she had platformed a “listed terrorist”.
Kostakidis said the charge of discrimination relied on Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 which “makes it an offence to offend someone, based on protected characteristics”. However, the law “does not protect political ideology”. Zionism is the belief system which is fuelling the Gaza genocide, Israeli expansionism and the federation.
“I had shared a clip of one of Nasrallah’s last speeches, on X, with a comment that he was giving the Israeli government some of its own medicine,” Kostakidis said. “The post was clear and constituted a criticism of the conduct of the Israeli government. My transgression? I had dared equate the threat of a listed terrorist, with the genocidal conduct of the state of Israel.”
Since the late 1960s, the supporters of Israel have been conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism — a prejudice against Jews and Judaism.
“What makes this type of case extraordinary, is that the courts are being used to attempt to gain legal protection for Zionism — an attempt that will ultimately fail categorically as more and more judgements are handed down, in particular if and when there is a full bench decision,” Kostakidis said.
“Australians must be prepared to lose the roof over their head defending themselves against accusations of antisemitism to protect their right to political speech,” she said.
While Kostakidis eventually won against this spurious charge of antisemitism, she was dragged for years across the hot coals of public scrutiny.
The ZFA eventually weighed its options and decided it would not succeed with its litigation, despite multiple discovery hearings.
Cassuto’s claim that he was “substantially satisfied” with the case outcome suggests he sought to publicly smear Kostakidis.
Supporters of Israel have continued to campaign against critics since the ABC’s sacking of journalist Antoinette Lattouf over her post about Israel starving the Palestinians in December 2023.
Writer Randa Abdel-Fattah, pianist Jayson Gillham, academics Nick Riemer and John Keane and cardiologist Peter MacDonald have also been targeted.
These cases are part of the Zionists’ attempts to silence criticism of Israel, despite its genocide for nearly three years. While Zionists are not succeeding, they do have the means and ability to keep waging their campaign.
Kostakidis’ legals XD Law said on September 12 that Cassuto ended proceedings without an apology or deeds. They said that Cassuto’s comment he was “substantially satisfied” was “deceptive” because “the short correct version is [that] Alon lost badly” and “he achieved nothing of any legal consequence”.
XD Law said that despite the Zionists litigation against Kostakidis and all the sackings and suspensions against people over the last three years, “Australians are still relatively free to speak their minds without being overly concerned about what Mr Cassuto thinks”.
“Mary stoically never ceded an inch to him”.
Following the breakdown of the AHRC conciliation process, Kostakidis apologised for any hurt from her social media posts. However, she did not delete messages or concede she was sorry for making them.
Cassuto had 60 days to file the matter to continue the challenge in the Federal Court, which he did on the final day.
The lawfare approach is failing as their targets have not stayed silent, while the attempt at tarnishing people’s reputations has been exposed.
“The action was launched to bully me into genuflection — to silence political expression and to chill speech by creating a legal precedent and fear of being targeted with bankrupting lawfare,” Kostakidis said.
“A humiliating withdrawal by them, in my case, is a blow to that ‘pride’ they keep referring to.”
[Paul Gregoire is a Sydney-based journalist and writer. This is a slightly abridged version of a piece first published in Sydney Criminal Lawyers.]