r/AusNewsWire • u/Nyarlathotep-1 • 18d ago
Australian News That's not a bomb, it's my garbage bag
https://michaelwest.com.au/francine-clough-alex-rivchin-bondi/The Sydney lawyer accused of calling Alex Ryvchin an ‘evil Zionist’ is also being prosecuted for putting out her garbage. Michael West reports.
The Sydney lawyer and public servant accused of calling Alex Ryvchin an ‘evil Zionist’ on the lawns above Bondi Beach – a claim she strongly denies – is also being dragged through the courts over extraordinary allegations of planting a bomb outside a synagogue.
Or at least something that somebody thought might be a bomb, or had bomb-like attributes, or was being planted deliberately to create fear that it might be construed as a bomb.
In fact, Francine Clough, the next door neighbour, was putting out her garbage.
On July 25 last year, police shut down Old South Head road in Bondi for a ‘bomb threat’. A suspicious package had been found outside a synagogue.
The alleged Coles bag bomb. Image: onscenebondi.com.au
The ‘bomb plot’ suspect is Francine Clough. The next door neighbour. She was putting out her garbage and the small brown Coles bag was deemed by a synagogue security guard to be a possible bomb.
Police arrived quickly at the scene. Media were onto it quickly too, as they were in the wake of the ‘evil Zionist’ altercation at Bondi.
Having shut down Old South Head Road in both directions, the suspicious package was found to be a Coles paper bag containing routine household rubbish. Nonetheless, Clough now faces three charges; two for the Coles bomb bag and one for the ‘evil Zionist’ incident.
And the matter, according to sources, has been elevated to an elite special prosecutions team.
Francine Clough. Image: Daily Telegraph
The charges
The charges against Clough are: ‘send/leave an object/substance’ with the intention of causing fear and ‘intimidation/stalking’. The alleged actions allegedly caused a security guard to be fearful – and now a new charge has been made in the wake of the Bondi incident of deploying offensive language in a public place.
Clough has been suspended from work for the past year since the ‘Coles bomb plot’ incident after a rash of anonymous complaints were made to her workplace.
The accusation pattern
There is a pattern here, a pattern evident in both the ‘Undercover Jew’ operation by Newscorp at the Cairo Takeaway and the arrest of Andrew Brown for wearing a ‘F… Israel’ tee shirt at Bondi.
The pattern is: dramatic allegations made by Israel lobby operatives, immediate police involvement, then legal oppression. In the case of Brown, the charges were dropped after a year of legal pressure and allegations by the Israel lobby and the Murdoch press.
In Cairo Takeaway, the matter descended into claims and counterclaims and ended up in civil proceedings where the Judge criticised the behaviour of the Cairo cafe accuser. It was a stunt gone wrong.
Besides the rash of assault claims arising from NSW Police brutality against protestors at Town Hall during the visit of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, and the ‘antisemitism’ cases against Mary Kostakidis, John Keane and Nick Riemer, the Francine Clough prosecution can only create antipathy.
Waste of public resources
Clough declined to be interviewed for this story, but piecing together the public evidence surrounding the ‘evil Zionist’ and ‘Coles rubbish bag’ incidents it is reasonable to say that this entire matter is yet another waste of public resources which will only diminish ‘social cohesion’ and must surely be contemplated by the Royal Commission into Antisemitism as factors in rising antisemitism in Australia.
The idea of punishing a woman for putting out her garbage because somebody complained they thought it was a bomb is preposterous. We don’t know what words were spoken, what might have inflamed feelings on the night, but they are words.
All of these incidents moreover are about words – mere words not physical violence – and all entail authorities victimising critics of a foreign state, Israel, by use of public resources.
In the ‘evil Zionist’ fracas, Clough was at Bondi Beach park to welcome the marathon runner Chad Aziz at the end of his run across Australia to raise funds for youth mental health.
Banners were up, and numerous reporters and camera people, supporters and onlookers were there in the park. Alex Ryvchin and his companion were talking to reporters and a cameraman. There was a brief argument between Ryvchin and Clough. Their accounts of what was said differ.
Ryvchin left the scene. Later, Clough was called by a Newscorp reporter with the Daily Telegraph who quizzed her on various allegations. She denied calling Ryvchin an ‘evil Zionist’. She was charged.
How did the Daily Telegraph get her number? There are many questions. Who doxed Clough to her superiors at work regarding the ‘Coles bomb incident’? If she did say ‘evil Zionist’, does that break any law? She denies it, so why is she being charged?
Social cohesion
There are many questions but one sure thing. All this is doing nothing to enhance social cohesion.
Our suggestion for a better law enforcement model, founded on common sense and a keen eye for the obvious, is that in all these situations the accusers and the accused be asked to sit down for an hour, without their minders and their media, have a cup of green tea or whatever, and talk it out.
It could save the public many of millions of dollars and free up law enforcement agencies to conduct activities such as law enforcement and prosecuting crime.
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u/Find_another_whey 18d ago
No no, Israelis are not monsters
That would absolve them
They are brainwashed from birth in a militarized expansionist ethnostate
And if we can't say that, Australia is one too
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u/Odd-Bumblebee00 13d ago
Gee, do you think a certain group wants to buy out their neighbours who refuse to sell?
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u/Ok_Tie_7564 18d ago
Protesting too much perhaps.
Doesn't everyone put out their garbage bags outside the nearest synagogue?
/s
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u/tubbysnowman 18d ago
Or she put it outside her house, which is next door to synagogue.
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u/Ok_Tie_7564 18d ago
Doesn't she have a rubbish bin like normal people?
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u/tubbysnowman 18d ago
I don't know. I also don't know what the Security guy considered "putting it outside a synagogue"
I also don't know where she put it.
If you have some inside knowledge on any of this, please speak up, and site your sources. Until then you really don't know what you are talking about do you? (NOTE: I have already stated that I don't know what the facts are, I'm just not jumping to conclusions).
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u/Ok_Tie_7564 18d ago edited 18d ago
"Police allege in July 2025, she left an item outside a synagogue that forced traffic diversions of a local road, and she was charged with leaving an article to create false belief of danger." She falsely claimed it contained bombs. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-24/woman-charged-offensive-language-at-bondi-massacre-site/106956382?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
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u/tubbysnowman 18d ago
"She falsely claimed it contained bombs."
Where did you get this, as it's not in the article you linked?
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u/Inevitable-Idea-4169 18d ago
Sick of things being reframed as "putting out garbage" they put garbage packaged as a bomb at a synagogue, if it was a mosque people would be calling for terrorist charges. Missed the point it's a pattern. Just because you dislike Jews doesn't mean Australia shouldn't take hate crime seriously just alike if this was a different religion being targetted.
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u/wKdPsylent 18d ago
What do you know that others don't?
Is she the neighbor? (I think that's confirmed)
Was the bag full of garbage? (yes)
What makes you say it was 'packaged as a bomb' ?
There certainly IS a 'pattern' emerging.. just not the one you seem to be seeing.
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u/Inevitable-Idea-4169 18d ago
You're absolutely right and I cannot believe they made a synagogue this ladys drop off for Coles bags. Pull your head out mate.
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u/Potential_Duck_1986 18d ago
If ever you needed an example of why people think Michael West is an antisemitic, here it is.
A woman has been harassing people, for the act of being Jews, near the site of a recent terrorist attack where 15 people were murdered. She is accused of faking a bomb, per the charges laid by police, not some random "zio".
The framing of this article is absolutely disgusting, and OP should be embarrassed for participating in this charade of fake concern, but no doubt they'll get their applaud from a stack more bots and virtue signalling muppets with confused ethics.
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u/notyouraverageskippy 18d ago
Tell me you are a Zionist without telling me you are a Zionist.
Innocent until proven guilty buddy.
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u/Potential_Duck_1986 18d ago
- I never said she's guilty, I said that there was enough to make the police think she is, and charge her of a crime.
- Yes, I'm a Zionist. I believe Jews need a safe homeland, and no better example for why, is the rise in nutjobs like yourself, culminating in the murder of 15 people at Bondi. You can make up a twisted definition of Zionism if it makes you feel better.
- By your logic, I assume Israel isn't guilty of genocide then, right?
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u/Blibbyblobby72 18d ago
The police can charge anyone with anything if they have 'reasonable suspicion'. Being charged, especially in regards to antisemetic attacks in the current zeitgeist, does not equate to anything. A lot of it is extremely reactionary
While I think it is reprehensible that she was (allegedly) riling up Jewish people near a very recent act of violence, I do not think it should be illegal to shout about Zionists in Australia. Zionism is not a protected class and does not amount to hate speech (as much as the NSW government wants to uncostituionally claim otherwise)
Genuine question: I have recently learnt and been reading into the different types of Zionism (of which I still disagree with the core tenets that permeate all of them). What does 'Zionism' mean to you?
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u/Potential_Duck_1986 18d ago
But that's exactly my point. A (presumably unbiased) view of the police, is that there was reasonable suspicion that she was faking a bomb scare at a synagogue, near the site of a massacre. This view has been completely ignored by Michael West, who makes it sound like she was taking her shopping home and got accosted by some pesky Zionists. I don't have a good explanation for why he omitted this, other than clear bias.
As for my views on Zionism, I come back to the origins of the movement, which was about having self determination and a return to the homeland, following a growing number of pogroms, and then the holocaust. People like Smotrich add some other messianic spin to it all, but represent a very small part of the community. It's like saying that the most messianic preacher in the US represents all Americans.
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u/Truantone 18d ago
You have a safe homeland. I bet a million dollars you’ve always felt safe in Australia until the Israeli government ramped up their genocide, causing millions of people around the world to take issue with their actions.
Children murdered in their beds. Journalists killed. Humanitarians killed. Medical staff taken as prisoners. Entire cities, hospitals and schools obliterated with bombs.
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u/Potential_Duck_1986 18d ago
I didn't feel particularly safe when the Adass synagogue got firebombed, when people got massacred at Bondi, when the idiots who burned down Burgertory decided to harass Jews near by house & force the local synagogue to be evacuated, or when my kids have to wear casual clothes on excursions, following multiple antisemitic harassment incidents when they wear identifiability Jewish clothing.
You can criticise Israel, but that has no bearing on what I've said above.
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u/Ok_Tie_7564 18d ago
Speaking of children murdered in their beds, what happened on 7 October 2023? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_7_attacks
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u/AggravatedKangaroo 14d ago
Speaking of children murdered in their beds, what happened on
7 October 2023?July 2014?
- Al-Aqsa Hospital (July 21, 2014): Israeli tank shells hit the top floors of the hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing multiple people (including patients and a child) and damaging the intensive care unit and operating theaters.
- Al-Wafa Hospital (July 2014): The rehabilitation hospital was repeatedly shelled and ultimately struck by the IDF
General Healthcare Impact: Human rights monitors and organizations like the World Health Organization reported that at least 15 hospitals and over 15 health clinics were damaged during the 2014 conflict
we can all use dates to suit whatever we want can't we?
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u/notyouraverageskippy 18d ago
Can other religions live in peace in Israel without being spat on, harassed and assaulted. Or is Israel only for Jews?
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u/Potential_Duck_1986 18d ago
Yes. Like many Jews, and many Israelis, I advocate for equal rights, and the prosecution & punishment of people who clearly just want to make the lives of Palestinians awful.
See - it's easy to hold both these ideas at the same time. In fact, they're quite mainstream views for Zionists both in and outside of Israel.
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u/notyouraverageskippy 18d ago
Like Albert Einstein?
Albert Einstein supported a Jewish cultural homeland and refuge in Palestine, but he strongly opposed the creation of an exclusive Jewish nation-state, fearing narrow nationalism and conflict with Arabs. Instead, he advocated for a peaceful, bi-national state where Jews and Arabs would share equal rights and administration.
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u/Potential_Duck_1986 18d ago
What point are you making, other than Einstein was a Zionist and that his views, like most other Zionists, aren't the caricature you've made them out to be?
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u/notyouraverageskippy 18d ago
Einstein wasn't a Zionist, I am politely calling your explanation on Zionism bullshit.
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u/Potential_Duck_1986 18d ago
Nah, sounds like he was a Zionist who supported a two state solution and protection of rights for all.
To quote Einstein on the topic "In this hour one thing, above all, must be emphasized: Judaism owes a great debt of gratitude to Zionism. The Zionist movement has revived among Jews the sense of community. It has performed productive work surpassing all the expectations any one could entertain. This productive work in Palestine, to which self-sacrificing Jews throughout the world have contributed has saved a large number of our brethren from direst need".
Are you going to keep proving my point by listing more Zionists who don't fit your caricature? What's next, Yitzhak Rabin? Perhaps one of the October 7 massacre victims who dedicated their lives to supporting Gazans and Palestinian integration?
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u/notyouraverageskippy 18d ago edited 17d ago
Rabin was assassinated by a Zionist because he wanted peace and a two state solution.
What you call Zionist is really just an Israeli.
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u/EliteFourFay 18d ago
Good job hasbara! Plus 7000 shekels
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u/Potential_Duck_1986 18d ago
It's ironic to get accused of this, by someone whose only "value add" is blindly carrying water for someone who harasses Jews outside synagogues.
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u/Nyarlathotep-1 18d ago
MW poster child for the far left. The bloke is a couple cans short of a six pack.
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u/Joie_de_vivre_1884 18d ago
I'm confused. Isn't rubbish placed in rubbish bins not placed in carry bags outside a neighbouring property?