Last week, in my post on how the anti-Israel protests against President Herzog had backfired, I included the front page of the West Australian newspaper as an example:
Former journalist and current Israel-hater Sophie McNeill has taken exception to this:
While Perth’s rally was held without incident, there were violent clashes between police and protesters in Sydney – Herzog’s first stop on his four-day tour, where he visited the site of the Bondi terrorist attack.
The following day, The West Australian published a front-page article headlined “Globalising the ignoramus”, with a sub-head reading: “Confused protesters in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne spew Jewish hatred as Israel’s President mourns over the Bondi massacre.”
The article pointed to chants of “from the river to the sea” and “globalise the intifada” – contentious phrases which are under scrutiny as states mull changes to hate speech laws – as its opening line reported protesters had “chanted for more violent acts against Jews … and the destruction of Israel”.
McNeill – a former Walkley Award-winning journalist who worked for the ABC’s flagship Four Corners program – was not named in the print edition of The West on Tuesday, but was named in an article published on the newspaper’s website on Monday.
A concerns notice sent to The West and its editor-in-chief Chris Dore claims the print articles – along with an editorial on the inside cover of the paper – carried defamatory imputations as, to the average reader, McNeill would be identified as being among the protesters reported to be calling for violent acts against Jews.
The notice, which is the first step in the process of defamation proceedings, also claims readers who saw the print stories would also have read the online article in which McNeill is named.
In the concerns notice, seen by this masthead, McNeill’s lawyer alleged the articles had jeopardised the Greens MP’s standing in her profession and had caused her significant hurt and distress.
The legal letter demands The West retract posts of the front page of the paper on its Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts, publish a retraction and apology to McNeill in print and online, and pay the MP’s legal costs.
In a statement, McNeill said the newspaper’s front page was “hateful, deeply offensive and a flat out lie”.
“Our movement stands firmly against antisemitism and all forms of racism and discrimination,” she said.
“Not only was our protest peaceful in both its intention and its language, but it was attended by members of the Perth Jewish community who also spoke out against Herzog’s visit.”
This is rather confusing; on one hand, Sophie McNeill seems to be saying the article made it sound like she would “be identified as being among the protesters reported to be calling for violent acts against Jews” – an admission these protesters existed. On the other, she is claiming the protest was “peaceful in both its intention and its language.”
You cannot simultaneously argue that you were defamed because readers might think you stood among people calling for violence,
and there was no violent language at the protest in the first place.
Which is it?
On social media, McNeill seems to go further, claiming the movement is peaceful.
Note how she accuses the West Australian of drumming up hate against their movement with lies. This is exactly what she and her movement are doing towards Israel with their accusation of genocide, the real defamation here. And doing so, against the world’s only Jewish state, is arguably antisemitic – notwithstanding the presence of a fringe group of anti-Israel Jews at the rallies.
And how can Sophie McNeill claim the movement is peaceful when we have receipts of the calls for violence? And is McNeill now claiming there were no chants to “Globalize the Intifada” at the Perth rally?
She would have to, because I would posit it would be difficult for her to now claim intifadas are peaceful. She knows fully well what they are about:
