Australia discontinues case against journalist Mary Kostakidis
The Federal Court of Australia, by consent of the parties, discontinued proceedings initiated by the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) against journalist and former SBS news presenter Mary Kostakidis. The court made no order as to legal costs, The Guardian reports.
Essence of the lawsuit
The ZFA accused Kostakidis of violating Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act by sharing two posts on the social network X in January 2024. The posts concerned a video featuring a speech by the late Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah.
According to the publication, in one of the posts the journalist wrote that the Israeli government was “getting a taste of its own medicine” and described Israel’s actions as genocide. A second post containing the same video also became part of the complaint. It was initially filed with the Australian Human Rights Commission, and the case was subsequently referred to the Federal Court.
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Last year, Kostakidis asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. She argued that the application did not specify which racial, ethnic or national group had allegedly been offended by her publications about Israel.
Positions of the parties
Kostakidis said that she had spent two years preparing her defence in a case that, according to her, was intended to silence her. She called the discontinuation of the proceedings a victory for Australians who value freedom of political expression, as well as for press freedom.
ZFA chief executive Alon Cassuto said that the lawsuit’s objectives had largely been achieved after Kostakidis publicly apologised in 2025 for the pain, suffering and distress experienced by Jews and Israelis in Australia who interpreted her posts as an endorsement. According to him, seeking further apologies through the court would be inappropriate.
