Pro-Israel activist suing Sydney restaurant claims he was shunned and vilified after News Corp stunt | New South Wales

A pro-Israel activist who visited a pro-Palestinian restaurant in Sydney with News Corp reporters has claimed he was slandered and investigated by his employer after the restaurant implied he was trying to create an “anti-Semitic incident”.

In February, Ofir Birenbaum walked into Cairo Takeaway, a popular restaurant in Sydney’s Newtown district, wearing a Star of David hat and necklace alongside Daily Telegraph reporters. The secret operation, which was later revealed to be what the newspaper internally called the “secret Jew”, made international headlines after it backfired.

In August, Birenbaum launched a defamation lawsuit against the restaurant’s owner, Hesham El Masry, and staff member Talaat Yehia.

Court documents obtained by Guardian Australia show he disputed the suggestion that his intention was to incite an anti-Semitic incident and was slandered in a series of social media posts on the restaurant’s account implying that was the case.

Birenbaum’s statement of claimThe photo, published this week, included screenshots of a deleted social media post the restaurant shared after the incident. Some of the claims made in this post were later retracted and an apology was made by the restaurant.

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Birenbaum, represented by Giles George, claimed in his statement of claim that the initial post implied that he had “made unsubstantiated accusations of antisemitism towards staff” and that it was “to incite controversy”.

The claim states that the post “caused people to avoid and denigrate Birenbaum to an extent unknown to him” and that he was “subject to a workplace investigation” after the incident.

Stewart O’Connell of O’Brien Criminal and Civil Lawyers, acting on behalf of the restaurant, said they were making attempts to resolve the matter peacefully out of court.

The defendants have not yet filed their defense regarding the allegations.

What did the messages say?

Screenshots show the restaurant saying Birenbaum arrived at the premises and ordered hibiscus tea “without any fuss.” They wrote that he then “lingered” near the counter, prompting a staff member to ask if there was anything else he wanted.

After the retracted statements, the post stated that Birenbaum responded: “Do you have a problem with me because I’m Jewish?” and “you scare me, you make me feel insecure”.

The post stated that at that time the employee tried to leave the conversation by going outside and a camera crew from the Daily Telegraph was waiting for him.

“It is very easy to infer that they attended Cairo Takeaway with the instigator in order to fabricate a story,” the restaurant wrote of the incident.

But in a later post, the restaurant apologized and retracted its retelling of some events, saying it reflected its perceptions at the time but wanted to clarify that “emotions have now calmed.” They wrote that Birenbaum did not “verbally taunt” or become “verbally confrontational” with the staff.

Also in the post: “Do you have a problem with me being Jewish?” They also explained that he did not say “You scare me, you make me feel insecure.”

“The outrageous nature of the media appearances has caused our staff extreme upset and distress, which unfortunately turned out to be inaccurate in our publishing material in the Instagram posts,” the post said.

“We have learned from this. We hope that other parties involved will also learn from this and will never engage in such a divisive and regrettable action.”

The post also stated that the restaurant was “unapologetically and openly pro-Palestinian” and that Birenbaum’s prominent pro-Israeli symbols and “acting strangely” while carrying a heavy bag made the staff feel unsafe and unsafe.

It also noted the “extraordinary escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine”, causing great distress for both communities.

“We would never consider entering a Jewish establishment bearing prominent symbols of the Palestinian flag during this time.”

In his statement, Birenbaum did not deny the claim that he went to the restaurant with journalists or that he went for news purposes.

In February, Ben English, editor of the Daily Telegraph, said the newspaper “never intended to provoke an incident at the Cairo Takeaway restaurant” but acknowledged “our approach could have been handled better”.

English said the newspaper visited many locations across Sydney to report on “the rise of anti-Semitism and how it is affecting the daily lives of Sydney’s Jewish people”.