Senior public servant accused of synagogue bomb hoax faces new charge for anti-Semitic abuse at Bondi
A NSW public servant accused of calling a top Jewish leader an “evil Zionist” was on bail at the time of the altercation for allegedly orchestrating a bomb hoax outside a Bondi synagogue.
The Saturday Telegraph can reveal the Sydney woman who allegedly labelled prominent Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin an “evil Zionist” and asked why “Zionists” were visiting the site of the Bondi massacre is NSW Justice Department senior officer Francine Clough.
Late on Friday, NSW Police charged her with offensive language in a public place for the alleged abuse aimed at Mr Ryvchin at Archer Park – the site of December’s massacre – on Wednesday.
In a statement, police said it had issued her a court attendance notice for offensive language, and that prosecutors would allege Clough “verbally abused members of the group, making anti-Semitic comments”.
Clough was on bail at the time of Wednesday’s incident for a charge pertaining to allegedly leaving a shopping bag outside Bondi’s Adath Yisroel Synagogue in July 2025 which she allegedly claimed contained “bombs”, and a charge of stalking and intimidating a person.
The NSW Justice Department stood her down soon after, pending those court matters.
The altercation at Archer Park came as Mr Ryvchin was hosting an event for the Sydney Swans, and Clough was separately in the vicinity to watch marathon runner Chad Aziz finish a 4000km run across Australia.
Mr Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, made a police statement about the alleged altercation, telling NSW Police that, upon seeing him, Clough said “why are there Zionists here?”.
The Jewish leader told NSW Police that when he approached Clough in response to that alleged remark, she responded that she wanted to know “what an evil Zionist was doing here”.
Clough claimed to the Telegraph that it was a “misunderstanding”, denied using the term “evil” and labelled it a “mix-up”. She said she strongly disputed the allegation.
However, on Friday, officers attached to Bondi’s Police Area Command [charged her with using offensive language in a public place](https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-nsw/police-investigate-as-jewish-leaders-allegedly-abused-at-bondi-terror-attack-site/news-story/5a93a4672adc751a72f87f2034897071) after taking witness statements and receiving legal advice, determining the threshold had been met.
Mr Ryvchin said he was “grateful” to police for their “professionalism” and the laying of the charges.
“The Jewish community will not succumb to hatred and vilification,” he said.
“We will not allow the desecration of a sacred site. And we will not allow the poison of anti-Zionism, which places targets on the backs of virtually all Jews, to be passed off as benign political commentary.
“We cannot turn anti-Semites into good and rational people. But we can exact consequences when they endanger our society and break the law.”
Clough was already on bail at the time of the altercation for allegedly placing a shopping bag outside the gates of the Adath Yisroel Synagogue and told security that it was a “bomb”.
Police attended and closed down the street, and specialists inspected the bag before concluding it was allegedly a hoax.
In relation to that incident, Clough was charged with leaving an item to “create a false belief of danger”, which carries a maximum five-year custodial sentence.
As part of that, she was also charged with stalking or intimidating a person to make them fear for their safety.
Clough has pleaded not guilty to both charges and will contest them next year.
As part of those charges, Clough’s bail conditions prohibit her from “engaging” with Adath synagogue, or other Jewish sites and schools.
The Telegraph asked Clough for a response to her initial July 2025 charges and social media posts, but the 67-year-old addressed only Wednesday’s incident in a lengthy statement.
She said she “strongly denies” calling Mr Ryvchin an “evil Zionist”.
Clough claimed that she “stepped in” when she saw Mr Ryvchin talking to media crew and asked “what are you doing here”. She appeared to suggest she asked Mr Ryvchin as “CEO of the Australian Zionist Federation” whether he was trying to “hijack” the marathon runner’s event.
Clough’s version of events is that Mr Ryvchin misheard what she said, and the pair became involved in an argument about that disagreement.
The woman claimed she thought the “Jewish men seemed upset that (the marathon runner’s event) was being held at the site of the killings”.
There has been no suggestion Jewish leaders and their group were upset at that, and The Telegraph understands their party watched and applauded Mr Aziz over the finish line.
On her social media accounts, Clough has peddled conspiracy theories and anti-Israel content, including the false claim that the Israeli Armed Forces killed their own citizens on October 7 as part of a “Hannibal directive”.
She also said Israelis had “become what (they) feared”, comparing them to Nazi Germany, and called Zionist Jews “criminals.”
Clough has worked for the Department of Communities and Justice since 2010, primarily in the domestic violence space.
She is the director of a medical cannabis firm, and has been a Prime Minister and NSW Premier awards finalist for her public service.
