Charlie Pickering under fire for interview with 'Jewish Nazi' who doxxed ABC employee

ABC radio host gave interview to far-right commentator convicted of domestic violence offences

The ABC has declined to answer whether it will discipline high-profile radio presenter Charlie Pickering for criticising the broadcaster in an interview with a self-proclaimed “Jewish Nazi” who has previously doxxed an ABC employee.

In a recently published interview with far-right media outlet Rebel News, ABC 774 Melbourne* presenter Charlie Pickering criticised the ABC for hiring sexual assault survivor advocate Grace Tame to present a four-episode podcast series, ‘Autistic AF with Grace Tame’.

Citing his Jewish faith, Pickering told Rebel News Australia correspondent Avi Yemini he believed Tame’s hiring was “problematic”.

”As you would understand, and as a Jewish Australian, there is a complete misunderstanding of a lot of the words that are said and what the true meaning of them are, and a lot of people are using words and phrases that have meaning well beyond what they think they do,” Pickering said.

“I think you could argue a lot of people that jump on protest bandwagons are ignorant a lot of the time.”

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Pickering’s comments were picked up by The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and News Corp outlets, which have run dozens of articles and video segments attacking Tame since she chanted the phrase “globalise the intifada” at a Sydney rally protesting Israeli President Isaac Herzog in February.

Tame has been the target of sustained attacks by right-wing media outlets and politicians since the rally. In March, Deepcut revealed that pro-Israel activists took credit for a public campaign against Tame’s speaking engagements and appearances at writers’ festivals, as well as a Hobart conference dedicated to stopping domestic and family violence.

Writing in Crikey, Tame said at the time that her livelihood that been “completely destroyed” by a “well-oiled, well-funded political propaganda machine” waging a “concerted smear campaign against me”.

Self-proclaimed ‘Jewish Nazi’ interviews Pickering

Pickering made the comments outside the ABC’s Melbourne headquarters, where Rebel News was livestreaming a rally against supposed anti-Israel bias at the broadcaster. The rally was organised by Allies for a Strong Australia, an offshoot of right-wing Zionist group Never Again Is Now. Mark Leach, a co-founder of both groups, has claimed that “Islam’s foundational texts and leaders provide the theological and cultural logic to attack and murder Jews”, and stressed the need to “dismantle the pro-Palestinian movement”, which he considers to be a “Marxist/Jihadist alliance”.

Rebel News is a far-right outlet based in Canada that has been frequently criticised for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about Islam and Muslims, COVID-19, vaccines and climate change, and for its extensive ties to white supremacist figures and organisations in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2017, Rebel News correspondent and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes denied that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Rebel News’ live footage of the interview with Pickering also featured comments from Rebel News viewers, including one with the username ‘@drmengele2260’ — an apparent reference to Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor who conducted experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz.

Yemini, the Rebel News presenter to whom Pickering gave an interview, is a former IDF soldier who has previously described himself as “the world’s proudest Jewish Nazi” and appeared onstage at British rallies with far-right figures like Milo Yiannopoulos and Tommy Robinson. In 2019, Yemini pleaded guilty to unlawful assault and using a carriage service to harass after he threw a chopping board that hit his ex-wife in the head and sent her abusive text messages.

In a victim impact statement read in Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court at the time, Yemini’s ex-wife, Sarah Lyford, said Yemini “terrorised me” and “destroyed my self-worth”.

“It was like I didn’t exist as a human being, I was just a vessel for his hatred,” Lyford told the court.

“What I will never forget is that he didn’t flinch when it happened. He didn’t ask if I was okay. He just walked by. I was left to tend to my own injuries and finish making the dinner.”

In 2018, Yemini’s Facebook page was banned after he shared the personal phone number of then-ABC Life deputy editor Osman Faruqi, alongside the caption “See this taxpayer-funded ABC employee? He smears the country that gave his peasant family refuge. Feel free to let Osman Faruqi know what you think”. Faruqi later told an episode of the ABC’s Background Briefing that he was inundated with racist phone calls and text messages following the doxxing, including death threats.

The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald neglected to include details about Yemini’s unlawful assault conviction and doxxing of Faruqi — who previously worked as the culture editor of both newspapers — describing Yemini simply as a “serial right-wing agitator”.

Speaking on the Lamestream Media podcast, which he co-hosts, Faruqi said Pickering’s comments were “reprehensible”.

“If, after a decade of having one of the cruisiest jobs in Australian media, you think it’s appropriate to talk to Avi Yemini at a pro-Israel rally that is targeting the ABC and targeting your colleagues for doing journalism day in, day out, and you give the ABC’s worst, most unhinged critics ammunition at this point in time, when everything’s so tense and divided, you honestly can go fuck yourself,” Faruqi said.

Three new episodes of ‘Autistic AF with Grace Tame’ were uploaded to the ABC’s website yesterday afternoon.

The ABC did not respond to questions. Tame declined to comment.

*Note: an earlier version of this piece incorrectly stated that Pickering is a host on ABC 702 Sydney.

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Listen to the latest episode of Deepthink, where Antoun Issa discusses his new book, Rebirth: A Love Story from the Depths of War, with Readings Books. The wide-ranging conversation delves into Beirut’s history, enduring Arab resistance, and interpreting Kahlil Gibran and the purpose of life.