Australia’s domestic intelligence chief has attacked a purported effort by News Corp staff to incite workers at a Middle Eastern restaurant to make prejudiced remarks as “stupid” and “unhelpful” during a Senate inquiry.

Police were summoned to the popular Cairo Takeaway in the Sydney suburb of Newtown this month following a dispute involving the restaurant’s staff, a team from News Corp Australia, and a man wearing a Star of David cap.

Hesham El Masry, the restaurant’s owner, alleged there was an attempt to provoke an anti-Semitic response from his staff in the presence of Daily Telegraph reporters. The restaurant and its owner have been vocal advocates for Palestine on social media.

ASIO’s director-general, Mike Burgess, was briefed on the case by Queensland senator Gerard Rennick during Tuesday’s hearing. Rennick accused the Daily Telegraph team of “stirring up trouble” and trying to “goad” staff into making a prejudiced statement.

“If those facts are correct, then that is just mind-blowingly stupid, isn’t it, and improper to do something to generate a headline,” Burgess told the hearing.

“[It’s] completely unhelpful and think about the poor person on the receiving end of that.”

Greens senator David Shoebridge then questioned why Burgess was not more critical of the alleged sting operation and suggested it deserved more attention from the domestic spy agency, which has repeatedly warned of social division.

“The concerns many people have is that this was not a moment of stupidity, this was a planned, resourced, and approved sting operation to try and sow division on the streets of Sydney,” Shoebridge told the hearing.

“It didn’t appear to be stupid, it appeared to be venomous, planned, nasty, and divisive – that is more troubling than something mind-blowingly stupid.”

In response, Burgess maintained his characterization of the incident, as described by Rennick, but said he would not provide further comment without more specific details.

“You see if there is some sinister, well-planned, plotted, approved from the top of the organisation [plan] to do that, I think that is completely wrong, should not happen and I’m hoping there is something law enforcement can do to deal with matters like that,” Burgess said. “That’s a personal view.”

Burgess also said the incident was not a priority for the agency.

“It came to the attention of ASIO but do I have multiple media agencies doing such things? No. In terms of decisions about where I put the weight of my organisation, this is not one of them,” he stated.

The Daily Telegraph has been contacted for a response to comments by Burgess and Shoebridge.

Ben English, the editor of the Daily Telegraph, has previously stated that the newspaper “never intended to provoke an incident at the Cairo Takeaway restaurant” but acknowledged “our approach could have been better handled”.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/feb/26/mind-blowingly-stupid-asio-chief-criticises-alleged-news-corp-attempt-to-provoke-middle-eastern-cafe-senate-estimates-ntwnfb