The restaurant at the centre of the “Undercover Jew” saga has hit back at the man suing them for defamation.
The Egyptian restaurant that unwittingly provided the backdrop for The Daily Telegraph’s “Undercover Jew” stunt has countersued the man at the centre of the saga, who is himself suing the restaurant for defamation over social media posts made in the aftermath of the incident.
Cairo Takeaway, in the Sydney inner-west suburb of Newtown, filed a cross-claim in the Federal Court on Friday against pro-Israel activist Ofir Birenbaum for trespassing.
The statement of cross-claim, seen by Crikey, argues that Birenbaum attempted to “increase social division by entering a pro-Palestinian premises wearing a cap that resembles the Israeli flag with a Daily Telegraph camera crew waiting outside”, and describes the stunt as a “cruel experiment”.
“[Birenbaum] knew or ought to have known that [Cairo Takeaway]’s owner and employees would feel particularly distressed and humiliated to be filmed, photographed, subjected to accusations and inferences of being antisemitic in full view of their patrons,” argues the statement of cross-claim.
Lawyers for Cairo Takeaway argue that while there is an implied license for members of the public to enter the premises of the restaurant, that license is “limited to … purposes that align with the … intended use of the property as a restaurant”, and that entry was not permitted onto the premises for the purposes it alleges Birenbaum intended — namely, for the production of a story alongside The Daily Telegraph.
Read the article by Daanyal Saeed in Crikey.