ZFA Case Against Mary Kostakidis Discontinued by Consent

Federal court proceedings launched by the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) against journalist Mary Kostakidis have been discontinued “by consent”, with “no order as to costs”.

The former SBS newsreader was accused by the federation of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act by sharing two posts on X concerning a January 2024 speech by the late Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah.

Kostakidis sought to have the case struck out last year, arguing that the claim did not identify which race, ethnicity or nationality had allegedly been affected by her posts about Israel.

ZFA chief executive Alon Cassuto alleged that the breach occurred when Kostakidis shared a video of Nasrallah’s speech on X and wrote: “The Israeli govt getting some of its own medicine. Israel has started something it can’t finish with this genocide.”

A second post sharing the same video was also included in the complaint, which was initially lodged with the Australian Human Rights Commission before being taken to the Federal Court.

The court said on Friday that the proceedings had been dismissed with the agreement of both parties.

Kostakidis said she had spent two years preparing her defence in a case she believed was intended to silence her, describing the discontinuation as a victory for Australians who value 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.

Kostakidis also said journalism must pursue the truth fearlessly and hold power to account, calling the outcome a win for press freedom.

She criticised the international response to the suffering in Gaza, saying the world had offered victims sympathy while providing perpetrators with weapons, diplomatic protection and impunity.

In a statement published on Friday, Cassuto said his objectives had been “substantially satisfied” following a public apology from Kostakidis in 2025 for the hurt, distress and pain caused to Jewish and Israeli Australians who understood her posts as an endorsement of Nasrallah’s comments.

“An important reason I brought this matter was to seek recognition of the harm these posts caused ordinary Jewish Australians,” he said.

Cassuto said that, given what Kostakidis had published since apologising, a further apology ordered by the court would lack meaning.

He added that the issues behind the case were being examined by the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, with its report due in December after a national inquiry into how antisemitism had become normalised in Australia.

“Ms Kostakidis can make her own accounting of her conduct. The Australian public can make theirs,” Cassuto said. “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. My job here is done.”

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