A professional-Israel activist who visited a pro-Palestinian Sydney restaurant with Information Corp reporters claims he was vilified and topic to an investigation by his employer after the restaurant allegedly implied he tried to fabricate an “antisemitic incident”.
Ofir Birenbaum went to Cairo Takeaway, a preferred restaurant in Sydney’s Newtown, in February carrying a Star of David cap and necklace alongside reporters from the Each day Telegraph. The undercover operation, later revealed to be dubbed internally by the paper as “undercover Jew”, made worldwide headlines after it backfired.
In August, Birenbaum launched defamation proceedings towards the restaurant’s proprietor, Hesham El Masry, and employees memberTalaat Yehia.
Courtroom paperwork obtained by Guardian Australia present he’s disputing the allegation that his intention was to impress an antisemitic incident, and that he was defamed in a collection of social media posts on the restaurant’s account implying that was the case.
Birenbaum’s assertion of declare, launched this week, included screenshots of a since deleted social media put up that the restaurant posted within the aftermath of the incident. Plenty of allegations made on this put up had been later retracted and apologised for by the restaurant.
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Birenbaum, who’s being represented by Giles George, alleged in his assertion of declare that the primary put up implied he made “baseless accusations of antisemitism towards employees” and that it was “to fire up controversy”.
The declare says the put up prompted “folks to shun and vilify Birenbaum, to an extent unknown to him”, and that he was “subjected to a office investigation” after the incident.
Stewart O’Connell from O’Brien Prison and Civil Legal professionals, which is performing on behalf of the restaurant, mentioned they’d made makes an attempt to peacefully settle the matter outdoors court docket.
The respondents are but to file their defence to the claims.
What did the posts say?
Screenshots present that the restaurant mentioned Birenbaum had come to the premises and ordered a hibiscus tea with “no fuss”. They wrote that he then “lingered” close to the counter, main a employees member to ask if there was the rest he needed.
In since retracted statements, the put up went on to say that Birenbaum responded: “Do you will have an issue with me as a result of I’m Jewish?” and “you’re intimidating me, you’re making me really feel unsafe”.
The put up mentioned it was then that the employees member tried to disengage from the dialog by strolling outdoors, and located a digital camera crew from the Each day Telegraph ready.
“It is rather simple to deduce that they’d attended Cairo Takeaway together with the instigator in an try and manufacture a narrative,” the restaurant wrote of the incident.
Nevertheless in a subsequent put up, the restaurant apologised and retracted it’s re-telling of a few of the occasions, saying it mirrored their perceptions on the time however needed to make clear now that “feelings had settled”. They wrote that Birenbaum didn’t “verbally taunt” or turn out to be “verbally confrontational” with employees.
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In addition they clarified within the put up that he didn’t say “Do you will have an issue with me being Jewish?”, or “you’re intimidating me, you’re making me really feel unsafe”.
“The ugly nature of their media stunt prompted members of our employees to expertise excessive upset and misery, which sadly led to our publishing materials within the Instagram posts which turned out to be inaccurate,” the put up mentioned.
“We’ve discovered from this. We hope that different events concerned have additionally discovered from this and can by no means have interaction in such a divisive and distressing stunt.”
The put up additionally mentioned that the restaurant is “unapologetically and transparently pro-Palestinian”, and that Birenbaum’s distinguished carrying of pro-Israel symbols whereas carrying a heavy bag and “performing surprisingly” had prompted the employees to really feel unsure and unsafe.
It additionally famous the “extraordinary escalation of battle between Israel and Palestine” and that it had prompted huge misery to each communities.
“We’d by no means contemplate getting into a Jewish institution carrying distinguished Palestinian flag symbols throughout this time.”
Birenbaum has not denied within the assertion of declare that he went to the restaurant alongside the reporters or that it was for a narrative.
In February, Ben English, the editor of the Each day Telegraph, mentioned the newspaper “by no means meant to impress an incident on the Cairo Takeaway restaurant” however acknowledged “our strategy might have been higher dealt with”.
English mentioned the paper had visited a number of venues throughout Sydney in an try and report on “the rise of antisemitism and … how it’s affecting the day by day lives of Jewish folks in Sydney”.
