The case between journalist Mary Kostakidis and the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) has now been taken to the Federal Court, with the ex-SBS news anchor garnering support in a fundraising endeavour for the case.

Kostakidis‘s fundraising project has gathered over $73,000 thus far (at the time of writing) to go towards her legal fees in relation to the case made against her by the ZFA.

The matter concerns the Greek Australian sharing a speech last year of then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last January wherein he told all dual passport holders to leave on her X account, with her adding a comment saying he was giving the Israeli government some of its own medicine.

The journalist’s posts sparked a major reaction and subsequently led to a complaint being filed against her in the Australian Human Rights Commission last July by the CEO of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Alon Cassuto.

The complaint was lodged under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, which concerns offensive behaviour “because of race, colour or national or ethnic origin” in Australia.

Following the AHRC conciliation process having been terminated without any resolution, the Zionist Federation had 60 days to take the matter to the higher authority which they did by filing legal action against Kostakidis with the Federal Court of Australia.

Kostakidis stated the money raised so far is a strong indication of the support there is for her.

In a statement provided to Neos Kosmos, she noted:

“The public is responding to my call to support my defence because I believe the great majority of Australians know the accusations against me are ludicrous and they can see this is our fight against attempts to interfere in our democracy by a lobby group trying to stifle free speech on behalf of a foreign power – as they are doing in all western democracies because their narrative is unravelling.”

Kostakidis stressed her view that the numerous amounts of people who have donated anonymously highlights the level of fear people have to make their support known.

“You can see by the numbers of people donating anonymously the extent of fear of retribution from both Zionists and compliant fearful institutions doing their bidding in the community,” she said, warning that there is also anger which could turn into real antisemitism.

Kostakidis further elaborated on her belief that the goal is to bankrupt her and frighten others.

“I won’t be silenced because free speech is the cornerstone of democracy,” she said.

“I have always acted according to my principles and am hardly going to cave in when the consequences would affect the whole country. The case is likely to go all the way to the High Court.”

The ZFA declined to comment when approached by Neos Kosmos on the grounds that the matter is still before the courts, though they referred to their initial statement from last July on the subject.

The statement stated the Zionist Federation’s view that Nasrallah’s speech from January 2024 was a call for ethnic cleansing.

“For the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, this rally cry is not a call for peace or equality – he means the ethnic cleansing of the seven million Jews who live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea”, said Cassuto in the July statement from the ZFA.

“It is irresponsible and dangerous for a person with Mary Kostakidis’ influence and authority to repeat calls by a terrorist for Jews to be ethnically cleansed ‘from the river to the sea’. This conduct reproduces an overseas conflict in Australia and is unacceptable.”

The original speech from Nasrallah in January 2024 that Kostakidis shared on her X account stated the following (as translated into English):

“Here, it’s going to be very difficult for you. If you want to be secure, if you want to feel secure, you have an American passport, go back to the United States. You have a British passport, go back to the UK. Here you don’t have a future, from the river to the sea the land of Palestine is for the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian people only.”