Antisemitism lawsuit dropped against former SBS newsreader

A racial discrimination case against former SBS journalist Mary Kostakidis, over her social media posts about the Israel-Gaza war, has been discontinued.

The Zionist Federation of Australia’s (ZFA) chief executive Alon Cassuto launched the action in the Federal Court in South Australia last year, claiming the posts were "reasonably likely … to offend, insult, humiliate and/or intimidate Australian Jews".

However, the court yesterday ruled, with both parties' consent, that "the proceeding be discontinued with no order as to costs".

Lawsuit's goal 'substantially satisfied'

In 2024, Ms Kostakidis shared a video on her X account of Hassan Nasrallah, the now-slain leader of Islamist militant group Hezbollah, urging Jews to leave Israel.

In the video, Nasrallah says "Israelis don't have a future" in the Middle East, and Ms Kostakidis captioned the post with: "The Israeli govt getting some of its own medicine".

The ZFA alleged the post was anti-Semitic under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s  definition, adopted by Australia, because it "denies the right of the Jewish people to self-determination".

Ms Kostakidis's lawyer argued the posts did not meet the "legal definition of anti-Semitism" and were "directed to the Israeli government" rather than Jews.

In a statement, Mr Cassuto said he filed the lawsuit to "seek recognition of the harm these posts caused ordinary Jewish Australians", an objective that has been "substantially satisfied".

He acknowledged Ms Kostakidis apologised for any distress caused but said it "did not … mark a change in the character of [her] public commentary".

"I do not intend to spend another year taking Ms Kostakidis' repugnant commentary from the dark corners of the internet and giving it a Federal Court platform in her pursuit of martyrdom,"

Mr Cassuto said.

Kostakidis claims 'win for press freedom'

Ms Kostakidis described the outcome as a win for "freedom of political expression".

"I want to thank my fellow Australians who recognised the significance of what we stand to lose, stood with me and stepped up to assist me to launch my defence," she said.

"The purpose of journalism is to get to the truth — fearlessly — and to hold power to account. This is a win for press freedom, which has prevailed.

"Thank you to the Jewish and Israeli people all over the world raging against this in recognition our common humanity trumps any form of tribalism."

Ms Kostakidis presented SBS World News from 1987 to 2007, and has more recently been an outspoken critic of Israel.