{"id":863857,"date":"2026-08-22T02:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T02:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/863857\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T02:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T02:08:14","slug":"nsw-seeking-urgent-advice-on-controversial-court-ruling-that-found-anti-israel-vandalism-was-not-antisemitic-new-south-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/863857\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW \u2018seeking urgent advice\u2019 on controversial court ruling that found anti-Israel vandalism was not antisemitic | New South Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New South Wales<\/a> government could appeal a supreme court judge\u2019s controversial decision to refuse its request for a terror order over a Sydney man convicted of writing \u201cFuk Israel\u201d on cars and setting another vehicle alight in late 2024.<\/p>\n

Justice Desmond Fagan this week found disparaging Israel was \u201cpolitical comment\u201d not antisemitism. He rejected the state\u2019s application that Mohommed Farhat be subjected to a one-year extended supervision order under the Terrorism Act when released from prison.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s peak Jewish group has labelled Fagan\u2019s ruling dangerous judicial \u201cactivism\u201d that should be reviewed. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry argued the ruling avoided \u201cthe community impact\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fagan\u2019s damning finding in relation to the handling of Farhat\u2019s case was published on Tuesday<\/a>. The judge said on Wednesday it appeared to be \u201ca serious miscarriage of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Farhat remains behind bars despite initially being due to be released on parole from early December 2025.<\/p>\n

One of the cars vandalised in Woollahra. Photograph: The Guardian<\/p>\n

Fagan found lower courts and various state agencies had incorrectly labelled Farhat\u2019s actions antisemitic \u2013 meaning he was treated more harshly after he pleaded guilty to 15 offences in connection with property damage in Woollahra.<\/p>\n

The supreme court was provided with intelligence which showed counter-terrorism police had accepted, three weeks after Farhat\u2019s arrest in November 2024, that he was not ideologically motivated but rather had been recruited and paid<\/a> to write the slogans.<\/p>\n

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Police had not shared that information with the prosecution or the magistrate who sentenced Farhat, Fagan found this week. It also wasn\u2019t shared before the state sought to cast Farhat, who has a Hezbollah tattoo on his neck, as a terror threat.<\/p>\n

Fagan found there was an \u201cinsignificant\u201d risk the now 22-year-old, who was of \u201climited intellect\u201d, would commit a serious terrorism offence.<\/p>\n

A government spokesperson said on Thursday the attorney general, Michael Daley, was \u201cseeking urgent advice about the prospects of an appeal\u201d over Fagan\u2019s decision to knock back the state\u2019s request for an extended supervision order.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia asked Daley, the police minister, Yasmin Catley, and the corrections minister, Anoulack Chanthivong, about Fagan\u2019s findings in relation to how the police and other agencies handled the case.<\/p>\n

A government spokesperson said that the \u201cjudiciary operates independently of government and this independence is crucial to protect the administration of justice in NSW\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government has taken strong action against antisemitism and hatred,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Given the matter remained before the courts and the attorney general was seeking advice regarding an appeal, they declined to comment further.<\/p>\n

Call for investigation into police conduct<\/p>\n

The Greens MP Sue Higginson on Thursday wrote to the NSW police watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc), requesting an urgent investigation into the police\u2019s handling of the case.<\/p>\n

She said she was \u201cgravely concerned systemic or deliberate maladministration has resulted in a severe miscarriage of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe material failure of police to provide critical evidence to the court has resulted in Mr Farhat\u2019s prolonged and quite possibly wrongful incarceration, as well as serious errors of fact and law,\u201d Higginson wrote in her letter.<\/p>\n

The watchdog\u2019s chief executive, Peter Johnson SC, said in budget estimates on Thursday the Lecc was considering the request.<\/p>\n

NSW police said in a statement on Friday: \u201cThis matter is currently under internal police investigation and as such no further information can be released to the media at this time to protect the integrity of the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

NSW supreme court justice Desmond Fagan. Photograph: NSW supreme court<\/p>\n

Fagan dedicated a significant portion of his written judgment to distinguishing anti-Israel speech from antisemitic speech.<\/p>\n

He was highly critical of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition<\/a> of antisemitism referred to in the crown\u2019s evidence, and which is being adopted by Australian institutions after a push by the special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal.<\/p>\n

Her plan to combat antisemitism<\/a> states: \u201cThe envoy will work with state and federal governments to require the IHRA working definition of antisemitism to be used across all levels of government and public institutions to inform their practical understanding of antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In his ruling, Fagan said \u201cthe IHRA proposal is detached from the reality of the common usage and understanding of antisemitism in this country\u201d. He said he was \u201cnot the first to have criticised the inept drafting of the IHRA formulation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The judge ruled that disparaging Israel was not antisemitic and stated that \u201cfor decades Jewish people have been amongst the most forceful critics of Israel\u2019s conduct towards the Palestinians\u201d.<\/p>\n

The definition has been formally endorsed by the Australian government and is the accepted definition of the royal commission into antisemitism established after December\u2019s Bondi beach terror attack<\/a> that killed 15 people during a Hanukah festival.<\/p>\n

Segal declined to comment on Fagan\u2019s criticism.<\/p>\n

Jewish groups respond to IHRA definition findings<\/p>\n

The co-chair of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, criticised the findings and what he termed Fagan\u2019s judicial \u201cactivism\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite extraordinary [given] where we are as a society, as a country, globally with antisemitism, that we\u2019re still being dragged back into these foundational discussions about what is and what isn\u2019t antisemitism,\u201d he told Sky News on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Ryvchin said the IHRA definition had been accepted \u201ccertainly by the Jewish world\u201d and both major political parties, universities and sporting associations in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut whenever someone wants to muddy the waters and prevent us from actually looking at curing antisemitism, they drag us back to this discussion about the IHRA definition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryvchin said Fagan\u2019s focus on the definition \u201cseems like the work of activism rather than a judicial member\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s deeply troubling, and I think that influenced the overall decision the judge made and his whole thinking on the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryvchin said Farhat\u2019s vandalism in a \u201cJewish neighbourhood\u201d was antisemitic, not simply political protest. He said Fagan\u2019s ruling \u201ctotally avoids the facts of the case but also the community impact\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew without equivocation that it was an attack on us,\u201d Ryvchin said, adding he thought the decision should be appealed. \u201cThere\u2019s a great danger in this judgment standing \u2026 I think it should be reviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fagan noted the state claimed that because the slogans were spray-painted in an area with a concentration of Jewish residents and there was criminal damage, the words \u201cFuk Israel\u201d took on an antisemitic meaning \u201cin context\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not accept that,\u201d he said in his decision. \u201cThe political nature of the curse was not changed by the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fagan\u2019s \u201ccategorical rejection of the IHRA definition\u201d was welcomed by the progressive Jewish Council of Australia. Executive member Bart Shteinman agreed with Fagan\u2019s finding that \u201cJewish Australians are not a monolith\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c[IHRA] distorts the fight between real antisemitism while shielding Israel from legitimate scrutiny,\u201d Shteinman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when governments and institutions are under growing pressure to adopt IHRA, this judgment should give them time for serious pause.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New South Wales government could appeal a supreme court judge\u2019s controversial decision to refuse its request for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-863857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}