Former SBS host applies to strike out racial discrimination claims
'For the sake of every Australian, we must stand up against racial hatred,' says Alon Cassuto.
Former news anchor Mary Kostakidis asked Adelaide’s Federal Court on Tuesday to strike out the majority of the claims in a racial discrimination case brought against her by Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) CEO Alon Cassuto, with Justice Stephen McDonald deciding to reserve his judgement on the application.
The former SBS host is accused of breaching section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by sharing posts in January 2024 including a video of a speech given by the since-deceased Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in which he called for Israeli dual citizens to flee Israel saying they had “no future” there.
Kostakidis wrote in the caption: “The Israeli govt getting some of its own medicine. Israel has started something it can’t finish with this genocide.”
In his statement of claim, Cassuto, represented by Arnold Bloch Leibler, argued the video’s contents are hateful towards Israelis and Jewish Australians by implying they’re “not indigenous to Israel and ought to ‘go back’ to other places”.
In court, Cassuto’s barrister reportedly said both Jewish Australians and people of Israeli national origin, and his client is both, could be offended or intimidated by calls for the only Jewish state to be erased off the map.
There were around 50 anti-Israel activists outside the court, where Kostakidis said to the media, “I will defend my right to report news and the right of every journalist to do so, and the right of every Australian to engage in public debate.”
Cassuto told The AJN that the case was “not about free speech, it’s about hate speech”.
“I commenced this action to hold Mary Kostakidis to account for sharing the call of a proscribed terrorist organisation, Hezbollah, for the ethnic cleansing of Jews and Israelis ‘from the river to the sea’.
“It is deeply offensive, irresponsible and dangerous – when someone with the influence and authority of Mary Kostakidis shares such hate speech,” he said.
“For the sake of every Australian, we must stand up against racial hatred, no matter who is being targeted, and no matter who is spreading it.”