An antisemitism stunt at Cairo Takeaway orchestrated by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and prolific Israel crusader Ofir Birenbaum backfired last week. Wendy Bacon reports.
Editors note: This story has been updated on March 3 following a retraction by Cairo Takeaway – posted below.
Egyptian food outlet Cairo Takeaway in Sydney’s Inner West was flooded with supportive customers this weekend after a DailyTelegraph undercover operation to find evidence of antisemitism badly backfired. MWM can reveal close links between the perpetrator, Ofir Birenbaum, and pro-Israel groups with a long history of amplifying anti-semitism at every opportunity.
Last Tuesday morning, Israeli Australian Birenbaum donned his white Star of David cap, white T-shirt and a prominent Star of David necklace on his chest and headed to Cairo Takeaway with Daily Telegraph journalist Danielle Gusmaroli and a cameraperson in tow, ostensibly seeking evidence that there is a crisis of anti-semitism in Sydney, including in the Inner West.
An internal Telegraph plan revealed by Crikey last week indicated that he would be wearing video glasses, but Birenbaum has since denied using them, although it appears he has used the glasses to covertly record police officers in the past. Gusmaroli and other Newscorp reporters are acquainted with Birenbaum because they have previously used him as a source. The plan referred to him as an ‘undercover Jewish man’.
News Corp chose Cairo Takeaway for its covert journalism because its owner, Hesham El Masry, is well known for his support for Palestine.
If there was any doubt, a large mural in Palestinian colours by well-known artist Scottie Marsh is featured on the laneway wall beside the restaurant. On Sunday, Cairo Takeaway organised a ‘Gadigal to Gaza’ fundraiser for Palestine at the Factory Theatre, in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler.
MWM researchers have tracked Birenbaum’s activities since October 2023. They include astroturfing in the NSW Local elections, media interviews, protests outside Greens MP offices, organising pro-Israel rallies, motivational talks urging support for Israel’s war effort, monitoring antisemitic graffiti, and even doing his own pro-Israeli graffiti at Sydney University and campaigning against Jewish people, pro-Palestinian academics and others who he perceives to be a threat to Israel.
Verbal entrapment
From CairoTakeaway Instagram account
After Birenbaum was served the hibiscus tea he ordered at Cairo Takeaway, he started interrogating the staff about their attitude to his Jewishness. By then, the restaurant staff had twigged to the media presence, and the sting, rather than being a successful hit, turned into an embarrassment. The Telegraph duo found themselves publicly accused of ‘divisive journalism’ as they retreated up the street.
That evening, a detailed account of the botched undercover hit was published on social media.
The Sydney Morning Herald and other outlets took up the story. Owner Hesham El Masry alleged that Birenbaum made a series of provocative comments to staff in an attempt to spark an argument. “Our staff members were subjected to a deliberate, orchestrated incident … at our establishment,” he told the SMH.
The Cairo Takeaway Instagram attracted thousands of comments, including some from people who claimed that Birenbaum had previously tried to provoke them at pro-Palestinian protests.
Birenbaum has hired prominent defamation lawyer Rebekah Giles, who threatened to sue El Masry if the statements on his Cairo Takeaway Instagram account were not removed by late Friday. The statements remain unchanged. Birenbaum has described those statements as “wholly incorrect” and “scandalously false”.
MWM has contacted Birenbaum, who declined to answer questions and referred us to Giles. We will update the story if we receive further information from her.
Late last week, Birenbaum closed his LinkedIn account and switched his ‘Ofir from Israel’ Instagram account, on which he has more than 4000 followers and 1000 posts, to private mode.
Who is Ofir Birenbaum?
Birenbaum grew up in Israel and served in the IDF, as is mandatory for all Israelis.
According to his recently deleted LinkedIn account, he graduated from Ruppin Academic Centre in Israel in 2014. By 2021, he was in Australia working as an AI consultant.
In 2023, he joined the multinational human resources software company Dayforce as a ‘solutions architect’ and ‘seasoned technology strategist’. He describes himself as a ‘charismatic, creative entrepreneur’.
As soon as Israel’s war in Gaza began, following Hamas’s October 7 attack, Birenbaum became intensely involved in campaigning in support of Israel in Australia. He has been designated as a ‘Friend’ by the right-wing Australian Jewish Association and is campaigning with Advance Australia to starve the Greens and Teals of preferences by putting them last in all elections.
Inside the ARC of Israel influence in the Queensland Election
Birenbaum has also been an active committee member in Together with Israel when it was founded in October 2023 and represented them as a motivational speaker with the message “One Nation, One Heart, One Land”.
Birenbaum was one of the organisers of a rally by Together with Israel in December 2024. Speakers at the rally included Rabbi Benjamin Elton, Great Synagogue Sydney, Senator Dave Sharma, Woollahra Mayor Sarah Swan and Ofir Birenbaum himself.
Campaigning for ‘Better Councils’
While Birenbaum was busy forming a coalition to defend Israel in Australia, his wife, Sophie Calland, joined the Labor Party in late 2023. She became the official front person for Better Councils Inc, a business name registered to campaign in Eastern Suburbs and Inner West Councils in the 2024 Local government elections. Alex Polson, who had previously worked for Simon Birmingham owned the Better Councils Inc ABN.
Along with Calland, Birenbaum, Polson and two other members of the core Together with Israel group formed the core group that organised and recruited for Better Councils Inc.
In a Zoom meeting, a Better Council organiser explained that Better Councils Inc would only target Greens, not Labor in the Inner West as a reward to Mayor Darcy Byrne who had risked unpopularity by opposing a Greens motion for a BDS audit in August 2024.
Right-wing astroturfers infiltrate local councils, fire up Labor v Greens unrest over Israel
Birenbaum recruited volunteers to help staff booths for pre-pol and election day. Their efforts helped prevent the Greens from gaining more than their existing five seats in the Inner West, keeping the Local Government Area under Labor control.
In October, when Greens Councillor moved for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) audit of Bayside Council, Birenbaum spoke vehemently against the motion as a veteran of the IDF.
Rallies galore
Meanwhile Birenbaum was attending lots of rallies in Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle, photographing Greens and other activists.
He was at the Supreme Court when the Palestine Action Group was appealing against a police refusal of a permit to march. He was at Sydney University during the camp-in protest. He even did his own graffiti there, which was captured on video.
Ofir Birenbaum caught in the act spreading hate pic.twitter.com/JAWjkqmcoc
— Exposing Hasbara (@ExposingHasbara) February 14, 2025
On December 5, a protest was held across the road from the Great Synagogue in Elizabeth Street Sydney against a celebration for Israel Institute of Technology – the “Technion”.
As Birenbaum approached the synagogue for the event, he pulled out an Israeli flag. He vigorously objected when police assigned to the protest accused him of deliberately trying to provoke a confrontation.
Birenbaum filmed this event wearing his video glasses.
Ofir on the spot
On January 16, residents woke to the news that the former home of Executive Council of Australian Jewry CEO Alex Ryvchin had been graffitied. Birenbaum was there.
On January 30, police were notified that anti-semitic graffiti had been sprayed on a wall near a Jewish Primary school in Maroubra. News.com’s Duncan Evans headed to Maroubra and interviewed Ofir Birenbaum who was described as a “consultant for a software company who lives 10 minutes away from Maroubra.”
He arrived carrying an Israeli flag and said, “It feels like a told-you-so moment.” He blamed the graffiti on the weekly pro-Palestine protests, saying “It starts with tolerating what we see in our streets.
The flags and the chants that we see in our universities …. we need a change of attitude by our universities, we need a change of attitude by our writers’ festival, our arts and culture centres in fostering hateful ideologies, that result in violent actions.“
Ofir Birenbaum at Maroubra. Image supplied.
On February 2, he was again on the spot when more graffiti appeared in Kingsford.
As posted on Facebook
Later, he appeared on a popular news show on Channel 12 in Israel in which he berated the Australian Labor government for having previously failed to act on anti-semitism and blamed protests for the anti-semitic graffiti.
If all this was not enough, Birenbaum fills his time with having gone at the pro-Palestians. For example, after Israeli pagers exploded, killing 32 people, including two children and injuring thousands (source BBC news) in Lebanon, he posted, “Someone made sure you’ll do your BDS properly”.
Last weekend, Birenbaum was a Sydney Town Hall rally after which he travelled to Melbourne. There, he celebrated the Advance Australia ‘Put Greens Last’ campaign in Prahran where a loss of preferences caused the Victorian Greens to lose the seat.
He also filmed a Jewish-led pro-Palestinian protest in Melbourne, labelling those Jews as anti-semites while attending the pro-Zionist one held at the same time.
He then returned to Sydney for his venture with the Daily Telegraph. But since the News Corporation stunt backfired, he has suddenly gone quiet and deleted his Instagram but not his OfirforIsrael Facebook page.
Amplifying anti-semitism, building Islamophobia
The spate of recent graffiti has shown that anti-semitism is a serious issue that hurts Jewish people and spreads fear.
But there is so far no evidence that the graffiti incidents have anything at all to do with protests or dissent. Birenbaum’s definition of anti-semitic behaviour includes pro-Palestinian protests and the activities of intellectuals, artists, fellow Jews and others who support Palestinians. He regards Israeli and Australian national interests as inseparable.
Birenbaum is a crusader for Israel who uses surreptitious and public tactics against his opponents who he wants banned or suppressed. In the process, his critics say he is helping amplify anti-semitism, build Islamophobia and build support for authoritarian change.
Editor’s note, February 18:
On Monday evening, ABC’s Media Watch published a letter from Giles that stated that before arriving at the Cairo Takeaway, the Daily Telegraph had witnessed one person commenting that Birenbaum was a “Jew in Newtown” and another saying he should “go back to Israel.”
On Tuesday, Cairo Takeaway posted a partial retraction and apologised for any harm done to Birenbaum’s reputation. They removed some details from their original post. Cairo Takeaway also restated their belief in inclusivity and that all people, including Jewish people, are welcome at Cairo Takeaway.
Cairo Takeaway Instagram posts, February 28
* Main image: L-R, Ofir Birenbaum, Rabbi Benjamin Elton(Senior Rabbi Great Synagogue Sydney), Michael Danby (ex-Labor MP and Labor Friends of Israel), Ed Halmagyi (owner, Avner Bakery), Dr Glenn Kolomeitz, (International lawyer and defence analyst), Councillor Carol Tannous-Sleiman (Hunter’s hill council), Colonel Michael Scott (ex-ADF), Hagit Ashual (Ex-Zionist council of NSW, Stand with Israel, Better council), Vanina Vaisman-Levy (Stand with Israel), Avi Efrat (Better Council, Stand with Israel) Meiran Rubinstein (Stand with Israel).
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Wendy Bacon is an investigative journalist who was the Professor of Journalism at UTS. She worked for Fairfax, Channel Nine and SBS and has published in The Guardian, New Matilda, City Hub and Overland. She has a long history in promoting independent and alternative journalism.
She is a long-term supporter of a peaceful BDS and the Greens.