The Sydney lawyer accused of calling Alex Rivchin an ‘evil Zionist’ is also being prosecuted for putting out her garbage. Michael West reports.
The Sydney lawyer and public servant accused of calling Alex Rivchin an ‘evil Zionist’ on the lawns above Bondi Beach – a claim she strongly denies – is also being dragged through the courts over extraordinary allegations of planting a bomb outside a synagogue.
Or at least something that somebody thought might be a bomb, or had bomb-like attributes, or was being planted deliberately to create fear that it might be construed as a bomb.
In fact, Francine Clough, the next door neighbour, was putting out her garbage.
On July 25 last year, police shut down Old South Head road in Bondi for a ‘bomb threat’. A suspicious package had been found outside a synagogue.
The alleged Coles bag bomb. Image: onscenebondi.com.au
The ‘bomb plot’ suspect is Francine Clough. The next door neighbour. She was putting out her garbage and the small brown Coles bag was deemed by a synagogue security guard to be a possible bomb.
Police arrived quickly at the scene. Media were onto it quickly too, as they were in the wake of the ‘evil Zionist’ altercation at Bondi.
Having shut down Old South Head Road in both directions, the suspicious package was found to be a Coles paper bag containing routine household rubbish. Nonetheless, Clough now faces three charges; two for the Coles bomb bag and one for the ‘evil Zionist’ incident.
And the matter, according to sources, has been elevated to an elite special prosecutions team.
Francine Clough. Image: Daily Telegraph
The charges
The charges against Clough are: ‘send/leave an object/substance’ with the intention of causing fear and ‘intimidation/stalking’. The alleged actions allegedly caused a security guard to be fearful – and now a new charge has been made in the wake of the Bondi incident of deploying offensive language in a public place.
Clough has been suspended from work for the past year since the ‘Coles bomb plot’ incident after a rash of anonymous complaints were made to her workplace.
The accusation pattern
There is a pattern here, a pattern evident in both the ‘Undercover Jew’ operation by Newscorp at the Cairo Takeaway and the arrest of Andrew Brown for wearing a ‘F… Israel’ tee shirt at Bondi.
Prosecution or persecution? Charges dropped against Bondi ‘F*** Israel tee-shirt man
The pattern is: dramatic allegations made by Israel lobby operatives, immediate police involvement, then legal oppression. In the case of Brown, the charges were dropped after a year of legal pressure and allegations by the Israel lobby and the Murdoch press.
In Cairo Takeaway, the matter descended into claims and counterclaims and ended up in civil proceedings where the Judge criticised the behaviour of the Cairo cafe accuser. It was a stunt gone wrong.
“Flagrant”. Court finds Israel activist breached Cairo Takeaway settlement
Besides the rash of assault claims arising from NSW Police brutality against protestors at Town Hall during the visit of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, and the ‘antisemitism’ cases against Mary Kostakidis, John Keane and Nick Riemer, the Francine Clough prosecution can only create antipathy.
Waste of public resources
Clough declined to be interviewed for this story, but piecing together the public evidence surrounding the ‘evil Zionist’ and ‘Coles rubbish bag’ incidents it is reasonable to say that this entire matter is yet another waste of public resources which will only diminish ‘social cohesion’ and must surely be contemplated by the Royal Commission into Antisemitism as factors in rising antisemitism in Australia.
The idea of punishing a woman for putting out her garbage because somebody complained they thought it was a bomb is preposterous. We don’t know what words were spoken, what might have inflamed feelings on the night, but they are words.
All of these incidents moreover are about words – mere words not physical violence – and all entail authorities victimising critics of a foreign state, Israel, by use of public resources.
In the ‘evil Zionist’ fracas, Clough was at Bondi Beach park to welcome the marathon runner Chad Aziz at the end of his run across Australia to raise funds for youth mental health.
Banners were up, and numerous reporters and camera people, supporters and onlookers were there in the park. Alex Ryvchin and his companion were talking to reporters and a cameraman. There was a brief argument between Rivchin and Clough. Their accounts of what was said differ.
Rivchin left the scene. Later, Clough was called by a Newscorp reporter with the Daily Telegraph who quizzed her on various allegations. She denied calling Rivchin an ‘evil Zionist’. She was charged.
How did the Daily Telegraph get her number? There are many questions. Who doxed Clough to her superiors at work regarding the ‘Coles bomb incident’? If she did say ‘evil Zionist’, does that break any law? She denies it, so why is she being charged?
Social cohesion
There are many questions but one sure thing. All this is doing nothing to enhance social cohesion.
Our suggestion for a better law enforcement model, founded on common sense and a keen eye for the obvious, is that in all these situations the accusers and the accused be asked to sit down for an hour, without their minders and their media, have a cup of green tea or whatever, and talk it out.
It could save the public many of millions of dollars and free up law enforcement agencies to conduct activities such as law enforcement and prosecuting crime.
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Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.