NewsCorp’s Undercover Jew stunt with Israeli activist Ofir Birenbaum and The Daily Telegraph turned ugly in court this week. Peter Lalor reports.
Israeli activist Ofir Birenbaum’s public boast that “The Truth Wins” was looking a little awkward after the Daily Telegraph’s “undercover Jew” and former IDF soldier had his evidence and honesty questioned in a bruising Federal Court appearance.
The man at the centre of the newspaper’s fumbled antisemitic sting at Cairo Takeaway in February 2025, was back in court this week facing allegations he’d breached the terms of the deed of settlement in a previous case involving himself, the newspaper and the popular suburban restaurant.
Birenbaum entered the witness box with his chest out and his gaze steady, but exited it with the presiding judge repeatedly questioning the credibility of his evidence.
“I didn’t find him to be a credible witness,”
Justice Robert Bromwich told Birenbaum’s counsel, saying he’d been “misleading and deceptive”.
The attempt, last year, to provoke an anti-semitic incident sparked a legal case that the court heard was “an example of the partisan division in this city”.
Gotcha selves
Birenbaum entered the Middle Eastern café with its famous Scottie Marsh Palestine mural on its outside wall, wearing prominent Jewish symbols on his clothing. A Daily Telegraph crew, headed by journalist Danielle Gusmaroli, waited outside for the “gotcha” moment with another photographer.
Internal emails leaked to MWM in 2025 revealed that the newspaper had labelled the attempted sting “UNDERCOVER JEW”.
Cairo Takeaway stunt. Building antisemitism one caper at the time
The sting unravelled, but the café was sued by Birenbaum for defamation and received an immediate apology after it proved that some of the initial allegations made in the heat of the moment about his behaviour were false.
The café counter sued him and the newspaper for trespass.
Birenbaum and Gusmaroli had reportedly attempted a similar stunt on another occasion. Wendy Bacon reported here last year on the pair’s failed attempt to capture covert footage at an Invasion Day rally. The Israeli-born activist has a track record for showing up to rallies calling for peace in Palestine.
Confidential settlement
The case involving Cairo, the former IDF soldier and the newspaper was settled in March this year with terms that remained confidential and an agreed statement which concluded:
“All parties are pleased that these issues have now been resolved in a constructive and satisfactory manner. In doing so, they acknowledge that all Australians should be able to safely express their racial or religious affiliation as well as debate issues in a respectful and dignified fashion. The parties hope that the fact of a resolution can be a positive example for others.”
The peace did not last long enough, however, for the agreed statement to be published. Birenbaum pre-empted the release, which all parties had agreed to, by claiming vindication in a statement that was widely distributed under the headline THE TRUTH WINS to sympathetic media types.
Grenades of ‘truth’
Counsel for Cairo, Matthew Richardson, told the court last week that the claims made “a joke” of the deed and represented a “full relaunch of hostilities” and said an apology in the deed of settlement was not “code for commencement of grenade throwing”.
A few minutes after entering the witness box, Birenbaum was reminded by Justice Bromwich that he had undertaken to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” and “being clever, if that is what you are being, is unacceptable.”
At question was whether the activist had sent briefing notes to select media outlets and who had leaked to Sky News information about compensation he’d received.
Birenbaum denied any knowledge of the breaches and claimed he had not told his attorney, Rebekah Giles, to release any information either.
Giles did not appear in court as expected, but also denies leaking the information.
Lying about the lies?
Later, Justice Bromwich asserted that he had to decide whether the activist was “lying about the lies” and must have “known he was not telling the truth” when giving evidence.
“The alternative finding is to say that he is stupid, and I don’t think he is stupid,” Bromwich told Birenbaum’s counsel, Kieran Smark SC.
Justice Bromwich was scathing about the Israeli-Australians’ claims of victory.
“The kindest thing you can say about it is that in the context of the deed, it’s misleading and deceptive, and if you were bringing an action for misleading or deceptive conduct, you’d win it, hands down.”
He later said: “I can’t imagine a single judge in this court thinking this was an acceptable way to behave, irrespective of whether there’s a finding made about breach of the deed.
“If everyone was to conduct themselves like this, matters just wouldn’t settle.”
Justice Bromwich said later that it was “difficult to accept” that Birenbaum didn’t know anything about the release of certain information to the media.
“I didn’t get the impression I was being told the truth,” he said. “The phrase that comes to mind is being economical with the truth.”
The Sharri Markson leaks
The post, which to this day remains pinned at the top of one of Birenbaum’s social “ofirfromisrael” media account was sent by direct message to 56 people, including Sharri Markson, Erin Molan, Caroline Marcus and the Australian Jewish News in what counsel said was an attempt to “bury the statements so Ofir Birenbam came out on top”.
The court heard that Sky News is “the most conservative media outlet in the country … if you were Ofir Birenbaum or his lawyer of course you would go to Sky News”.
The former soldier’s post claimed he had been “completely vindicated”.
“This should never have happened, but it did, and now the truth is no longer up for debate, and lies cannot be weaponised anymore,” Birenbaum had claimed in the release.
Birenbaum claimed memory lapses explained his failure to reveal interactions with Sky News presenters Sharri Markson and Caroline Marcus in his affidavit ahead of the current case.
The court heard that Markson, who broadcast confidential elements of the settlement, had been in contact with the Israeli activist who was instructed to turn over the contents of those messages to the court.
Sky News spin
A transcript of the Sky News report was tendered to the court with focus on claims by Markson “that they’ve paid him an undisclosed amount of compensation”.
“Birenbaum refused to comment on the amount of compensation paid to him,” Markson said during the report. “Other than to say he’s pleased with the confidential terms of the resolution, and Rebekah Giles said in a statement today, this is an important win for a fear Birenbaum and the Australian Jewish community, it’s vindication for Jews across the globe who’ve been falsely accused of staging acts of anti-Semitism.”
The court heard that Birenbaum’s lawyer, Giles, made claims of victory for her client, releasing a statement calling the settlement of the case “an important win for her client and the Australian Jewish community. It’s a vindication for Jews across the globe who have been falsely accused of staging acts of antisemitism”.
The broadcast triggered a wave of hate toward the café and Muslims, with one labelling Cairo “scumbag takeaway” and another “pathetic dogs.”
Birenbaum’s lawyer, Kieran Smark SC, said that Markson’s incorrect claim that compensation had been paid when it was pending suggested the information had not come from his client.
“She’s got it wrong, if it had come from us, she would have got it correct,” he said.
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