Head of Australia antisemitism probe targeted with miscaptioned photo
- Published on January 19, 2026 at 09:58
- 3 min read
- By Dene-Hern CHEN, AFP Australia
Australia announced in January 2026 it will hold a royal commission inquiry into the mass shooting that allegedly targeted Jews attending a Hanukkah celebration near Sydney's Bondi Beach. A photo of a woman marching at a pro-Palestinian rally surfaced in social media posts that misidentified her as the former judge appointed to lead the antisemitism inquiry. In reality, the woman pictured is Mary Kostakidis, a journalist and political commentator.
"Our new Royal Commissioner, pictured here in the front row of the sort of anti-Israel March that has stoked the anti-Semitism she's supposed to be investigating," reads a January 9 Facebook post by Bernie Finn, a former MP in Victoria state.
He shared a cropped picture of several marchers -- including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- standing alongside pro-Palestinian banners.
"There's the Judge, doing the Royal Commission, 2nd from the left," reads text overlaid to the image.
"The fix is in!" Finn said in his post, which received 2,700 shares and garnered thousands of reactions.
Since an ISIS-inspired attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach killed 15 people on December 14, 2025, there have been calls for a royal commission -- the highest level of government inquiry (archived link).
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had initially brushed off these demands, but mounting pressure led him to relent. He announced on January 8 that the royal commission will probe everything from intelligence failures to the prevalence of antisemitism in Australia.
Similar posts with the same image spread on Facebook and Instagram among Australian users, drawing criticism of Albanese and his ruling Labor Party from commenters.
"Obvious and blatant conflict of interest, she should step down immediately. It confirms Albo and Labor are trying to rig the RC (Royal Commission)," says one, while another user just blasted it as a "very BIASED Royal Commission".
According to the government's announcement about the inquiry, the Royal Commission would be led by Virginia Bell, a former justice of the High Court (archived here and here).
But the woman to Assange's right in the false posts is not a judge. She is actually Mary Kostakidis, a prominent journalist and political commentator (archived link).
A reverse image search reveals that it was a screenshot taken from an ABC video report about a pro-Palestinian rally on August 3, 2025, in which tens of thousands of protesters marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge (archived here and here).
Several news reports, as well as a photographer, have identified Kostakidis as leading the march alongside Assange (archived here, here and here).
Kostakidis had also confirmed in August that the person pictured was her when she was asked about it on the social media platform X (archived link).
"Yes. Me impersonating a drowned rat," she said, in reference to the persistent downpours that Sydney experienced on the day of the rally.
AFP has reached out to the High Court, as well as Kostakidis, but no responses were forthcoming.
The false claim was also debunked by the Australian Associated Press (archived here).
AFP previously debunked misinformation related to the Bondi Beach attack here.
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