Australian lawyer Josh Bornstein has come under attack after someone used his identity to publish an article calling for the violent deaths of Palestinians.
The article, published overnight as a blog post on The Times of Israel, labelled Palestianians “worthless subhuman beasts and vermin” and called for violence against them.
The post, which has been removed, also stated that “non-Jews have absolutely no place in Israel”.
Both Mr Bornstein and the Times of Israel have since stated that the posts were published by an imposter, who spent several weeks reposting articles by the Maurice Blackburn principal to gain credibility.
“Not my article,” he said.
“I have not written anything for the Times of Israel. Ever.”
Mr Bornstein also posted images of hatemail he has received in the wake of the article.
He has previously written about inequality, political economy, law and mental health for outlets including The Guardian and Crikey.
SBS sought further comment, but Mr Bornstein declined.
The Times of Israel issued a statement approximately 14 hours later, citing that the imposter had been posting for several weeks under Mr Bornstein’s name.
Staff said the post had been removed, along with the entire blog, and issued an apology to Mr Bornstein.
“Times of Israel staff had no reason to suspect this was a hoax, also given that half a dozen posts were published on this blog in subsequent days, all on topic and perfectly reasonable,” it read.
“As we found out Thursday, these posts were taken from Bornstein’s articles elsewhere on the internet.”
Share
