Inside News Corp’s backfired ‘UNDERCOVERJEW’ operation
A News Corp operation sending an “undercover Jewish man” to a popular Egyptian cafe this week backfired when staff called the police following an altercation with Daily Telegraph journalists.
Internal files seen by Crikey show the outlet planned to use covert video-recording eyewear in the making of the story, which it internally named “UNDERCOVERJEW” and sketched out a week in advance.
Earlier this week, the head chef at Cairo Takeaway in Newtown, Sydney, posted footage to social media of an argument between Cairo staff and a News Corp journalist, videographer and the undercover individual after they had left the cafe.
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Notes made in The Daily Telegraph’s internal planning system give insight into how journalists planned the story. They detail an aim of reporting “what it’s like being Jewish in Sydney”, secretly filming with video glasses, and identify the undercover Jewish man as Ofir Birenbaum — an individual described as a “friend” by fringe group the Australian Jewish Association (AJA). The system notes also outline The Daily Telegraph’s intention to send Birenbaum into various neighbourhoods to film people’s reactions.
CCTV footage from both inside and outside the inner-west restaurant on February 11 shows a staff member serving Birenbaum, who was wearing a cap with the Star of David on it, what appears to be a Star of David pendant, and a pair of thick wraparound black sunglasses.
After ordering a takeaway drink, Ofir lingers near the cafe’s counter where seemingly no staff or patrons pay him any attention. A short time later he leaves the building.
Afterwards, Daily Telegraph reporter Danielle Gusmaroli, accompanied by video producer Jeremy Span, walk into the restaurant and speak with a staff member, who begins a phone call before following Gusmaroli and Span outside onto Enmore Road.
CCTV footage from outside shows the staff member with their phone held aloft while following the journalists outside, where an animated conversation takes place.
Footage posted to social media shows Cairo staff following the Daily Telegraph group up Enmore Road, with a staff member accusing the Telegraph of “divisive journalism”, as well as telling them that they “picked the wrong restaurant … to fucking try this shit in”.
The footage also depicts what appears to be a momentary physical altercation, with Gusmaroli heard to say “I’m not touching your phone so you don’t touch mine”.
The Daily Telegraph, which has yet to publish anything about the encounter, had planned the story as early as February 5, when a file in News Corp’s internal planning systems titled “NSW_DT_UNDERCOVERJEW_NEWS_JAN11” was created by Gusmaroli’s account. The January 11 reference was likely a typographical error.
The company’s internal database also includes photos taken by photographer Rohan Kelly, including one of Cairo Takeaway owner and restauranteur Hesham El Masry. The file also has instructions describing the assignment brief:
Meet Gussy at Holt Street call on arrival at 9am and head to Newtown for 930am. Undercover Jewish man Ofir Birenbaum sees what it’s like being Jewish in Sydney. Will secretly film with his video glasses. The aim is to walk down main streets in Newtown, Blacktown, Bankstown, Arncliffe (might not do arncliffe it the worst perhaps) and film peopls reactions to this jewish man in their neighbourhood. Needs discreet photos of the guy walking down these streets to accompany the yarn. Speak to pic desk for a brief.
A News Corp source told Crikey that by the morning of February 13, the story had no further progress in News Corp’s backend beyond having had photographs uploaded to it under embargo.
Birenbaum has featured in News Corp publications a number of times. In December 2024, Birenbaum appeared on Sky News after claiming he had been moved on by police at a pro-Palestinian protest in the Sydney CBD. In November 2023, he was quoted by The Australian after being involved in a rally outside Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi’s office, pictured wearing an Israeli flag as a cape.
The Daily Telegraph has produced an undercover story like this before. In 2011, it published an undercover report with journalist Clementine Cuneo donning a niqab and travelling to two different suburbs of Sydney — the affluent Hornsby and highly-Muslim populated Lakemba — to compare how she would be received.
The Press Council, of which The Daily Telegraph is a member, requires publications to avoid “publishing material which has been gathered by deceptive or unfair means” and “causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice” unless doing so is “sufficiently in the public interest”.
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Crikey put a number of questions to Daily Telegraph editor Ben English about the purported use of covert filming glasses and whether the publication had abided by Press Council principles in the process of producing the story.
He did not reply before publication of this article. On Friday evening, English sent Crikey a statement saying: “Like other media The Daily Telegraph has been reporting on the rise of anti-Semitism and investigating how it is affecting the daily lives of Jewish people in Sydney. The Telegraph never intended to provoke an incident at the Cairo Takeaway restaurant in Enmore, which was one of multiple venues across Sydney we visited, nor to report that its staff are anti-Semitic. The Daily Telegraph acknowledges our approach could have been better handled.”
A NSW Police spokesperson told Crikey that officers had “conducted an investigation” after a staff member at a cafe on Enmore Road reported she was “allegedly intimidated by a customer”, but that no criminal offence had been identified.
Birenbaum did not respond to a request for comment, but categorically denied the cafe staff’s version of events.
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