The “Undercover Jew” sting activist and his lawyer claimed a legal settlement was “vindication for Jews across the globe who have been accused of staging acts of antisemitism”. Only it wasn’t. Peter Lalor reports….
PETER LALOR
The Federal Court has dismissed claims of victory by Jewish activist Ofir Birenbaum and his lawyer Rebekah Giles in the Daily Telegraph’s bungled “Undercover Jew” sting.
The former IDF soldier and his solicitor breached the terms of an agreed settlement over the affair, in statements which were “highly misleading and even deceptive”, the court found.
Justice Robert Bromwich made the findings this week, after Cairo Takeaway, in Sydney’s Enmore, challenged Birenbaum in court, after he publicly claimed a win in the original case, which ended with a confidential settlement.
In early 2025 the former IDF soldier entered the family-owned Egyptian cafe wearing a secret camera, accompanied by a hidden crew from the Daily Telegraph, in an apparent attempt to provoke an anti-semitic incident, although the Israeli-born activist denies this was his intention.
The incident led to a three-way court battle between the paper, the activist and the cafe.
Birenbaum sued for defamation, after some initial allegations made against him were proved false, while the cafe counter sued him and the newspaper for trespass.
“The incident led to a three-way court battle between the paper, the activist and the cafe”
The parties entered a confidential settlement deed on March 26, and on March 30 published a joint statement.
The Federal Court has now found public statements made by Birenbaum and his lawyer Giles were at odds with the settlement, and that confidential information was leaked to Sky News commentator Sharri Markson.
Of particular interest was a briefing note sent to Sky News and a number of other media outlets, including Crikey, the Daily Mail and the Australian Jewish News.
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Ofir Birenbaum was “not an impressive witness”, the judge found. Source: Twitter/X
Giles had “deliberately set out” to “undermine and overwhelm” the agreed joint statement,” the court found.
“Mr Birenbaum, through his own conduct and via Ms Giles, deliberately set out, in a planned way, to undermine and overwhelm the contents and effect of the Joint Statement, by publishing their statement first or at around the same time,” states the judgement.
Justice Bromwich, while observing that Birenbaum was “not an impressive witness” accepted the activist’s testimony that he did not pass on the information and “the only other logical and plausible person, in my view, is Ms Giles”, a friend of Markson.
“I therefore infer that the information about compensation being paid to Mr Birenbaum was conveyed by Ms Giles to Ms Markson on behalf of Mr Birenbaum and said it was a clear breach of the confidentiality of the settlement,” Justice Bromwich found.
Of further concern were claims of a victory for Birenbaum and the “Jews across the globe”, by the activist and his lawyer, in statements that were distributed with the briefing notes.
“Of further concern were claims of a victory for Birenbaum and the ‘Jews across the globe’ by the activist and his lawyer”
“The Birenbaum Statement and the Giles Statement not only fail to sit harmoniously with what the Joint Statement contains, but in material ways misrepresent what has been agreed on,” Justice Bromwich ruled.
“The Birenbaum Statement and the Giles Statement…misrepresent what has been agreed on” — Justice Bromwich
Jewish Council of Australia head Sarah Schwartz yesterday gave evidence of attacks on her by News Corporation. Source: The Klaxon
The Federal Court judge noted that Giles had not appeared at the hearing and her affidavit was not read at the hearing last month.
“Ms Giles was closely involved in the conduct of the proceedings and the settlement prospect, including, as I have already inferred, the preparation of the Briefing Note and the preparation and publication of the Giles Statement and the Birenbaum Statement,” found Justice Bromwich.
“She was not a bystander to the strategy to undermine and overwhelm the Joint Statement; she was the key implementer.”
Justice Bromwich drew the inference that Giles was not called to give evidence “because it would not have assisted her client’s case in general”.
“Giles Statement” began with the claim that the original settlement between the three parties was “an important win for Ofir Birenbaum and the Australian Jewish community”.
It continued: “It is vindication for Jews across the globe who have been falsely accused of staging acts of antisemitism”.
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Birenbaum, for his part, claimed to “have been completely vindicated”. Giles said “a lesser man would have walked away”.
These claims were widely reported, with Markson devoting a long section of her show to the case.
The court found that this was a deliberate attempt to cloud an agreed settlement where the parties claimed “these issues have now been resolved in a constructive and satisfactory manner … (the parties) hope that the fact of a resolution can be a positive example for others”.
“The court found that this was a deliberate attempt to cloud an agreed settlement”
“Contrary to the entire tenor of the Joint Statement, and in particular its conciliatory tone, key parts of both the Birenbaum Statement…and the Giles Statement are nothing short of a claim of capitulation rather than compromise,” Justice Bromwich found.
“Mr Birenbaum uses language such as ‘the Truth wins’, asserts that he has been ‘completely vindicated’, and points to ‘lies’ being told about him that are the subject of an unreserved public apology,” states the judgment.
“None of that is reflective of the content or tenor of the Joint Statement even upon the most cursory reading, let alone when it is read carefully and properly understood.
“The Giles Statement paints a similar picture of victory,” the judgement states.
“It portrays the resolution as ‘an important win’ for Mr Birenbaum and a ‘vindication for Jews across the globe’ and suggests that ‘a lesser man would have cut his losses and walked away’, but that Mr Birenbaum ‘took on the risk associated with this litigation and prevailed’.
“It also refers to ‘lies’ being made by ‘the guilty parties’, referring to all the respondents, not just Cairo Takeaway,” the judgement states.
Bromwich found it was “simply false to say that Cairo Takeaway apologised for any ‘lies’ being uttered about Mr Birenbaum at all, let alone that it offered an apology in unreserved terms … Ironically, the Birenbaum Statement is itself false in key respects …”
The judge also found that Giles “reference to ‘lies’ was similarly baseless”.
Peter Lalor is a journalist of over 40 years’ experience, the last half of them as a cricket correspondent.
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