Cassuto ends 18C case against Kostakidis

Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive Alon Cassuto has ended his Federal Court racial discrimination case against former SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis, less than three months before it was due to go to trial.

In a statement issued on Friday, Cassuto said he had resolved the proceeding, brought under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, and that his objectives had been “substantially satisfied”.

The case concerned two posts on X in which Kostakidis republished a speech by then-Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. Cassuto maintained the speech amounted to a call to ethnically cleanse Jews and Israelis “from the river to the sea”. Hezbollah is proscribed in its entirety as a terrorist organisation by the Australian Government.

“An important reason I brought this matter was to seek recognition of the harm these posts caused ordinary Jewish Australians,” Cassuto said.

“Following the conciliation process, Ms Kostakidis issued a public apology acknowledging the hurt caused by her posts. Public figures should be accountable for the consequences of amplifying the rhetoric of a proscribed terrorist organisation.”