Landmark case against Greek Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis could redefine boundaries of free speech on Israel

By John Menadue

Early in the New Year, acclaimed journalist and former SBS news anchor Mary Kostakidis posted a statement on her X account in the hope it would bring to a close legal proceedings brought against her in the Australian Human Rights Commission by the CEO of the Zionist Federation of Australia, alleging that social media posts on Israel’s genocidal acts in Gaza allegedly violated the country’s Racial Discrimination Act.

In response, the complainant, Alain Cassuto, condemned her “continuing to regularly post deeply offensive content”, stating he is “considering” his “options” in holding her to account.

The outcome of this case may well define the boundaries of what can be published about Israel, and whether reporting material that some find offensive places the journalist, and publisher, in breach of “hate speech” law. Though works of art and journalism constitute exemptions, the AHRC deems that is for a Court to decide, so the author faces a defamation-style trial. The eye-watering expense may cause some to resile from publishing material that is sure to offend a powerful litigious group.

The barbarity of Israel is condemned by most of the world as clearly shown in the UN, ICC and ICJ. However, a small but powerful lobby can bend the US and a few camp followers like Australia to its will. In 1948, Palestinians held 95% of the land. Israeli occupation and brutality has reduced Palestinian occupation to 25% of the land. That tells the story of Israel’s violence and continual ethnic cleansing.

In the US Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu got 50 standing ovations. That shows the power of the lobby.

In Australia, the lobby has seduced and neutered almost any criticism of Israel.

And the Albanese Government panders to our failing, monopoly media, by negotiating subsidies for them from social media, so they can regurgitate American and Israeli propaganda.

The Australia Zionist Federation tactic is to silence criticism and accuse critics of Israeli war crimes and genocide of being antisemitic. Albanese leads the charge with little concern about Islamophobia.

All Jews are not Zionists, but the lobby wants us to believe they are.

Kostakidis is to be congratulated for her consistent reporting of the facts. She has courage and will not be intimidated and silenced.

If only our politicians and media editors had half her courage. But they have been on the Israeli/Washington drip feed for so long and have normalised in their own minds  the ethnic cleansing and genocide that Israel has been pursuing against Palestinians for the better part of a century.

The victims of the Holocaust have become the perpetrators of a new holocaust, with more than 50,000 Palestinians killed at the hands of the IDF, “the most moral army in the world” and supported every step of the gruesome way by the US, “the land of the brave and the free”.

How can the killing of more than 50,000 civilians be seen as acting in self-defence? How can it be  classed as antisemitic to report facts about genocide?

Meanwhile,Mary Kostakidis has responded with steel regarding the precision of her statement about the matter, refusing to be intimated or misinterpreted. The formidable Zionist Lobby have taken on a journalist who has been a strong advocate for press freedom and human rights for decades, is across the issues and the history of the Middle East, and undeterred in her defence of the public’s right to know.

With regard to the offence taken at the phrase From the River to the Sea, Israel also uses that phrase, enshrined in law, sovereignty only for Jews from the River to the Sea, and it has been the stated policy of the Likud Party since its inception. That is what Netanyahu conveyed in the UN, holding up a map of greater Israel. Zionists take umbrage at any other party daring to make assertions they regard as their own exclusive God-given right. This is not what was granted to Israel in 1948 and they have ignored every UN Resolution since with respect to their creeping land theft.

Since the complaint against Mary Kostakidis was lodged, there have been two Findings/Orders issued by the ICJ confirming the illegality of the occupation and ICC arrest warrants issued. Israel and many of its supporters have deemed the ICJ, ICC, UN Secretary-General, UN Rapporteur, Amnesty International, HRW, B’Tselem, and the Pope among others, as antisemites. So Mary Kostakidis is in good company, much better company than the Zionist Federation keeps.

We are all aware of offensive Israeli comments about Palestinians over a long period. Palestinians have real grounds for taking offence and feeling hurt. Variously Palestinians have been called a nest of snakes, told they are not people; they are Arabs, two-footed beasts, swarms of rats, dogs, and cockroaches. That surely is real “hate speech”.

Former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called Palestinians “human animals”.

Yet the Zionist Federation seems unable to understand how distressed Palestinian Australians must feel about the massacre of their kith and kin in Gaza.

Palestinians all over the world have to worry about more than their own feelings and about ‘offensive comment’. Their families and friends may be dead, injured and under rubble, not counted in what is likely now a grossly inadequate death count of 50,000 civilians.

Mary Kostakidis is serving Australia well in bringing to our attention the terrible suffering of Palestinians at the hands of Israel.

I wish there were many more journalists like her.

John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations, where this article was originally published, an Australian platform for the exchange of ideas from a progressive, liberal perspective, with an emphasis on peace and justice. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.

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