NSW judge rejects supervision order, calls antisemitism definition 'verbose'
Justice Desmond Fagan ruled political slogans against Israel were not evidence of religious hatred or terror risk.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Camera IconMohommed Farhat was involved in spray painting cars in the graffiti and arson spree. (HANDOUT/NSW SUPREME COURT) Credit: AAP
Photograph: PerthNow (embedded from source)
What this story says
- NSW Supreme Court Justice Desmond Fagan rejected an extended supervision order for Mohommed Farhat, who served prison time for anti-Israel graffiti and arson in Sydney.
- The judge ruled the slogans were political critique, not religious hatred, and criticised the IHRA antisemitism definition as 'verbose' and 'detached from reality'.
- A June poll showing 79% of Australians view Israel unfavourably for its Gaza conduct was cited in the ruling as evidence against conflating anti-Israel sentiment with antisemitism.
- Separately, a US federal judge, Richard Gaylore Stearns, dismissed antisemitism cases against Harvard and MIT, drawing scrutiny over his past anti-Israel activism.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
55/100
Craft
55/100
Hype
35/100
6 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
Only 1 of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Desmond Fagan ruled that a graffiti and arson spree targeting Israel in Sydney’s east did not indicate an ongoing terror threat. The defendant, Mohommed Farhat, was convicted in November 2024 for causing over $100,000 in property damage during a 41-minute spree, including slogans such as "F*** Israel" and "PKK coming". He is set to be released in October after serving his prison sentence.
Prosecutors sought an extended supervision order, arguing the slogans demonstrated an antisemitic intent and a risk of future terrorism. Justice Fagan rejected the application, finding the slogans were political expressions rather than religious hatred. He criticised the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, has relied on. The judge called the definition "verbose" and "detached from the reality" of antisemitism in Australia.
Justice Fagan cited a June 2026 poll showing 79% of Australians view Israel unfavourably for its conduct in Gaza. He argued it would be "preposterous" to label that proportion of the population as antisemitic. The judge also accepted the defence’s argument that Farhat, who has low intellectual functioning, was recruited to paint the slogans and did not act out of personal animus.
Disagreement over the US judge’s rulings
Reports diverge on the significance of US federal judge Richard Gaylore Stearns’s past activism. The Washington Free Beacon reported that Stearns, who dismissed antisemitism cases against Harvard and MIT, signed a 1967 newspaper ad demanding Israel’s "total military withdrawal" from territories won in the Six Day War. The ad framed the demand as being in Israel’s interests while accusing pro-Israel groups of harming US interests. The outlet also noted Stearns was a campaign aide to Senator George McGovern in 1972, a role that became controversial due to his anti-Israel activism.
The Washington Free Beacon quoted a 1972 interview in which Stearns told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency he did not regret signing the ad, though he acknowledged it was "embarrassing" to McGovern’s campaign. The outlet described the ad as "pro-Arab" and "viciously anti-Israel", citing contemporary news coverage that framed it as a liability for McGovern among Jewish voters. No other outlet in the material provided addressed Stearns’s past or its relevance to his rulings.
What the coverage left out
None of the right-rated digests mentioned the June poll showing 79% of Australians view Israel unfavourably for its conduct in Gaza, which Justice Fagan cited in his ruling. The Canberra Times digest, rated left, also omitted the poll figure. The Washington Free Beacon’s report on Judge Stearns did not address the NSW case or Justice Fagan’s ruling.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 7 times, most recently on 18 Aug 2026, 14:30, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
1 rated outlet
- The Canberra Times digest led on the judge’s criticism of the IHRA definition, describing it as "not fit for purpose". The digest noted the judge’s suggestion that the definition could implicate 79% of Australians, but did not include the poll figure or the judge’s phrasing that the definition was "detached from reality". It did not mention the defendant’s intellectual functioning or the recruitment argument.
Centre
1 rated outlet
- PerthNow’s full report led with Justice Fagan’s rebuke of the IHRA definition, quoting his description of it as "verbose and imprecise". The report included the judge’s argument that conflating political critique of Israel with antisemitism was a "parasitic rejection of protest". It carried the 79% poll figure and the judge’s statement that it would be "preposterous" to label that proportion of Australians as antisemitic. The report also included the defence’s argument that Farhat was recruited and has low intellectual functioning.
Right
4 rated outlets
- The Washington Free Beacon’s full report focused on US federal judge Richard Gaylore Stearns, leading with his past anti-Israel activism and his role as a campaign aide to George McGovern. The report quoted a 1967 newspaper ad Stearns signed demanding Israel’s withdrawal from territories won in the Six Day War, and a 1972 interview in which he said he did not regret signing it. The outlet framed the ad as "pro-Arab" and cited contemporary news coverage that described it as a liability for McGovern among Jewish voters.
- The digests from ussanews.com, The West Australian, and the Australian Financial Review all led on the NSW judge’s criticism of the IHRA definition. The West Australian and Canberra Times digests described the definition as "not fit for purpose", while the Australian Financial Review quoted the judge’s phrase "detached from reality". None of the right-rated digests mentioned the 79% poll figure, the defendant’s intellectual functioning, or the recruitment argument. The ussanews.com digest repeated the Washington Free Beacon’s framing of Stearns’s past activism.
Read it at the source
6 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
1Centre
1Right
4- Judge in Harvard Antisemitism Case Was Anti-Israel, Anti-War Activist, McGovern Campaign Aide (opens ussanews.com in a new tab)
ussanews.com — is ussanews.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Judge in Harvard Antisemitism Case Was Anti-Israel, Anti-War Activist, McGovern Campaign Aide (opens The Washington Free Beacon in a new tab)
The Washington Free Beacon — is The Washington Free Beacon biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Judge slams 'imprecise' anti-Semitism definition (opens The West Australian in a new tab)
The West Australian — is The West Australian biased? Our profile of this outlet
- ‘Detached from reality’: Judge slams Segal’s test for antisemitism (opens Australian Financial Review in a new tab)
Australian Financial Review — is Australian Financial Review biased? Our profile of this outlet
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover NSW judge rejects supervision order, calls antisemitism definition…?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 17% are rated left, 16% are rated centre, 67% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is NSW judge rejects supervision order, calls antisemitism definition… left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of NSW judge rejects supervision order, calls antisemitism definition… biased?
- NSW judge rejects supervision order, calls antisemitism definition 'verbose' is one event reported by 6 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting NSW judge rejects supervision order, calls antisemitism definition…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered NSW judge rejects supervision order, calls antisemitism definition…?
- 6 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What did the NSW judge rule about the graffiti and arson spree?
- Justice Desmond Fagan rejected an extended supervision order for Mohommed Farhat, ruling the anti-Israel slogans were political critique, not religious hatred. He criticised the IHRA antisemitism definition as 'verbose' and 'detached from reality', citing a poll showing 79% of Australians disapprove of Israel's conduct in Gaza.
- Why did the judge criticise the IHRA definition of antisemitism?
- Justice Fagan called the definition 'verbose and imprecise', arguing it could wrongly label political protest against Israel as antisemitic. He cited a June poll showing 79% of Australians view Israel unfavourably, saying it would be 'preposterous' to call them antisemitic.
- What was the US judge’s past activism?
- Richard Gaylore Stearns, who dismissed antisemitism cases against Harvard and MIT, signed a 1967 ad demanding Israel’s withdrawal from territories won in the Six Day War. The Washington Free Beacon reported he was a campaign aide to George McGovern in 1972, a role that became controversial due to his anti-Israel activism.
- Which outlets reported the 79% poll figure?
- PerthNow, rated centre, included the poll figure in its full report. The Canberra Times and all right-rated digests omitted it. The poll was cited by Justice Fagan in his ruling as evidence against conflating anti-Israel sentiment with antisemitism.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
