Countdown star Rachel Riley has issued an apology for her now-deleted tweet about the Sydney mall stabbings. There were calls for Channel 4 to sack the 38-year-old mum of two after she was accused of perpetuating Islamophobia when she falsely claimed the horror attack was a Palestinian uprising.
The horrific murder rampage, which saw six people lose their lives on Saturday, was carried out by Joel Cauchi, 40, from Queensland, whom police said suffered from mental health problems. Speaking in a press conference, police assistant commissioner Anthony Cooke said the attacker had been shot dead by an officer.
Although Rachel linked to the orginal tweet – which said the shopping mall attack was the result of a “globalised Infitada” – in her apology, it shows the post as no longer being available. In a lengthy post, she said she was “sorry” if her message had been “misunderstood”.
“Just to clarify, my intention with this tweet was not to say this attack was caused by any ideation or to link it to Islamic extremism,” she wrote. “At the time we did not know who the attacker was, and as such I made no reference.
“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. For six months now, I have avoided taking the Tube, or going with my kids to anywhere near the marches each Saturday, and each week we see the extremist chants on proud display with little outcry.
“Sadly, the type of attack seen in Sydney yesterday is exactly the kind of violence the previous intifada involved and I hope to avoid in future, but in my opinion ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.
“Attacks on Jews have recently become repackaged as ‘resistance’ in some circles, and we should in one voice condemn all acts of violence, whoever the perpetrators and whoever the victims.
“I am sorry if this message was misunderstood, that was not my intention.”
She restricted those who could comment on the post to only those who she follows, or are mentioned in the tweet.
Rachel frequently speaks out about antisemitism and was appointed a MBE in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to Holocaust education.
The horror attack in Sydney sent riples around the world as news website news.com.au reported witnesses claiming a man began stabbing shoppers at random and The Australian website reported that a nine-month-old baby was among those who were stabbed.
New South Wales Police later confirmed six people had died and more had been injured by the attacker stabbing people at the Westfield Bondi Junction centre in Sydney from around 3.30pm.
Speaking of the moment the culprit was shot dead by a female officer, police assistant commissioner Anthony Cooke said: “She confronted the offender who had moved by this stage to level five as she continued to walk quickly behind him to catch up with him. He turned faced her raised a knife. She discharged a firearm and that person is now deceased.”
Assistant commissioner Cooke added detectives were not “ruling out” terrorism, but that there was nothing at the scene currently to suggest a “motive or any ideology” behind the sickening killing spree.