Jewish leaders welcome Woollahra Council policy shift
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies has welcomed Woollahra Council’s decision to revise its policies in the wake of a controversy surrounding an employee’s extreme social media comments about Israel.
David Ossip Photo: Henry Benjamin/J-Wire
The employee, Nadia Messaoudine, posted a series of remarks on LinkedIn that have been widely condemned as hateful and inflammatory by the local Jewish community.
David Ossip, President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, responded to the news with a statement: “We welcome the news that the Council intends to change its policies so that its employees can be held to account for appalling social media posts in the future. The posts in question contain messages of hate, dehumanisation, and arguably incitement, which cross all lines of decency and should not be tolerated.”
Messaoudine’s posts, which included inflammatory statements likening Israel to “parasites” and calling for the defeat of “Zionism,” have caused significant concern among Jewish residents in the Woollahra area, which is home to one of Sydney’s largest Jewish populations.
In one post, Messaoudine wrote, “Let’s kill them all (Zionism),” while in another, she referred to Israeli soldiers as “subhuman” and “brainwashed from birth to hate Arabs with every fibre of their body.” She also described Israelis as “rogue psychopaths on a never-ending murderous rampage.”
Initially, Woollahra Council defended its stance not to take immediate action against Messaoudine, emphasising that the views expressed on her personal social media account did not reflect the organisation’s position. “Personal views expressed by staff via social media are in no way a reflection of the organisation’s views. This has been clearly stated on the staff member’s LinkedIn account, and there has been no breach of our code of conduct,” a council spokeswoman stated.
However, in light of the backlash and the distress caused within the community, the Council has now indicated it will revise its policies to ensure that similar situations are addressed more appropriately in the future.
Numerous people reported the posts to LinkedIn, but the social network initially advised complainants that “the Trust & Safety team concluded that this comment does not violate LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policy.” However, it now appears that all Ms Messaoudine’s LinkedIn comments have been removed.
Nadia Messaoudine expressing such vicious rhetoric and hate to Jews and wanting to “kill them all” – Firstly, I cant believe she has not been arrested and secondly, what a cop out from the council located in a large Jewish populated area who is protecting such a vile and dangerous person when her services should be terminated with immediate effect. They do not deserve to be returned to office after the election. Every Jew and non Jew should stand up to this weak, arrogant and entitled bunch of public servants who appear to have no interest in protecting the local community.
what crap always after the events never making it retrospective and prosecuting the jew haters , if the same hate was directed at Muslims, Gays N LGBT you can bet the hate-monger would face some consequences but of course as usual the Jews are the exception !
Thank you AJA once again for being first to bring it to our attention !