COUNTDOWN CO-HOST Rachel Riley has apologised for a post on social media in which she appeared to claim that the stabbing attack that took place in a Sydney shopping centre on Saturday was linked to Islamic extremism. 

In a now-deleted post on X, shared after the attack in which six people were killed, the British television personality linked the incident to those calling for “Intifada Revolution”.

Intifada is an Arabic word which translates to “shake off” and refers to an uprising or resistance. The term is most often used in relation to the creation of a Palestinian state and an uprising against Israel, and has been heard at pro-Palestinian protests. 

Two uprisings or ‘intifadas‘ are recognised as having taken place: the first from 1987 to 1993, ending with the signing of the first Oslo Accords, and the second from 2000 to 2005. The two intifadas resulted in the death of over 5,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis

“If you want to know what ‘Globalise the Intifada’ looks like, see the Sydney Mall,” Riley tweeted, before referencing the second intifada. 

“Sydney mall, multiple times over is what they’ve been proudly calling for.”

The post received significant backlash on social media, which grew after police in Sydney named the attacker as Joel Cauchi, a 40-year-old man from Queensland, and said they did not believe it to be terror-related.

Riley has since removed the original post and said her intention “was not to say this attack was caused by any ideation or to link it to Islamic extremism”.

I’ve thought about this all day and deleted the original tweet, so just one more post on the matter.

I’m sorry to those I offended. My post was ambiguous and although it was genuinely designed to call out calls for violence, it wasn’t the right place or time which made it easier… https://t.co/Ygawc9mrma

— Rachel Riley MBE 💙 (@RachelRileyRR) April 14, 2024

Referencing rallies calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Riley said: “My aim was to highlight the weekly calls for ‘intifada’ being tolerated in London and around the world, which in actuality means violence on our streets.”

In a later post, she said: “I’m sorry to those I offended. My post was ambiguous and although it was genuinely designed to call out calls for violence, it wasn’t the right place or time which made it easier to misinterpret, and I apologise.”

Misinformation

Numerous false claims about the motive of the attack and the identity of the attacker quickly spread online after it occurred, with some viewed hundreds of thousands of times. 

Julia Hartley-Brewer, a British presenter on TalkTV, tweeted: “Another day. Another terror attack by another Islamist terrorist.” She has since said her claim was “incorrect”, but has not removed the original tweet. 

An account on X with over 20,000 followers tweeted that the attack was carried out “by a knife-wielding #Muslim”.

Other posts, shared by several people on Facebook, falsely named the attacker as a student from Sydney, with some claiming he was “a radical Jew”. 

The false claim of this man being the attacker was repeated by Australian media outlet 7News, which later retracted the report and apologised. 

The man has since spoken about being falsely identified as the attacker. 

The false claim was also shared by Simeon Boikov, who runs the X account ‘Aussie Cossack’, that has over 33,000 followers.

He posted that there had been “unconfirmed reports” identifying this man as the attacker, adding: “Really? And to think so many commentators tried to initially blame Muslims.” The post is still live and has been viewed over 400,000 times. 

According to the BBC, Boikov is a pro-Kremlin social media personality who fled to the Russian consulate in Sydney last year. When asked by the BBC about sharing the false claim, he said he had “warned” the report was unconfirmed in his tweet. 

Police in Sydney are investigating whether Cauchi purposefully targeted women in the attack. Five of the six people who were killed in the attack were women, as were most of those wounded.

The victims have been named as Ashlee Good, Dawn Singleton, Jade Young, Pikria Darchia, Yixuan Cheng and Faraz Tahir.

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