Jewish groups condemn court’s antisemitism findings
Jewish groups say the court's rejection of the IHRA definition is a serious setback in fighting antisemitism.
Australia’s peak Jewish organisations have condemned a NSW Supreme Court judgment that dismissed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, describing the decision as a serious setback in the fight against anti-Jewish hatred.
Justice Desmond Fagan last week rejected a NSW government application for an extended supervision order against Mohommed Farhat, 22, who pleaded guilty to property offences after a 41-minute vandalism spree through Woollahra in November 2024.
Slogans including “Fuk Israel” [sic] and “PKK coming” were spray-painted on cars and buildings; two vehicles were burnt and damage exceeded $100,000.
The judge found Farhat – who sports a Hezbollah tattoo – was a vandal for hire, paid to paint slogans he did not choose, and that the state had not established to a high degree of probability that he posed an unacceptable risk of committing a serious terrorism offence.
Having dismissed the application, the court went on to make findings about Israel, about 1948 and about the meaning of antisemitism itself, in a case where neither party had led evidence on any of it.
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