Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs McGrath, we hear, has been particularly fired up all week. But he didn’t take up CBD’s offer to share some of that fire with us.We’re sure they’ll all be on their best behaviour once the election campaign kicks off.New memberThere’s been another twist in the tale of The Daily Telegraph’s undercover investigation into antisemitism.The man at the centre of a Daily Telegraph sting is a card-carrying member of the Australian Labor Party.Credit: Nine NewsCBD can reveal that the man, who wore a Star of David cap at popular Enmore Road joint Cairo Takeaway while a crew from the News Corp tabloid lurked outside, is a card-carrying member of the Australian Labor Party.LoadingOfir Birenbaum joined the party late last year, according to local Labor sources, and was assigned to the Rosebery branch. That’s the same branch as Environment Minister and Labor Left icon Tanya Plibersek. Cairo Takeaway’s management confronted the man and the Tele crew. He has subsequently denied making provocative remarks towards restaurant staff, with both parties disputing what happened at the popular Newtown establishment.CBD hears Birenbaum popped up in a new branch member’s report shortly after joining the party last year. He is believed to have attended some branch meetings.Birenbaum was contacted for comment via his lawyer.Washed upOne might imagine life on Wolseley Road, Point Piper – Australia’s most exclusive street – to be rather peaceful.But for multimillionaire Crystal Car Wash founder Anthony Sahade, it’s been marked by a series of bizarre neighbourly feuds.Sahade bought his waterfront mansion, Cerisca, for $11.25 million in 2006. That year, an elderly neighbour made a complaint about him.In 2013, a local court magistrate threw out two assault charges against Sahade over an altercation with another neighbour.LoadingA year later, the two neighbouring families who shared the strata title block with Sahade won an order from the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal not to “threaten or act in an aggressive manner” toward them.In the end, money proved the ultimate peacemaker. In 2017, Sahade bought out his neighbours to the tune of an estimated $25 million, creating a sprawling block extending from the street to the harbour.But the car wash king’s latest renovation plans – an elevated swimming pool on the edge of the harbour foreshore – also failed to gain much love from his wealthy neighbours.After the development application wracked up 10 objections, it was sent upstairs to Woollahra Council’s local planning panel for ruling last week. With the council planners recommending the panel refuse it, Sahade hastily cobbled together an eleventh-hour submission with a handful of design tweaks, which sent the panel on an impromptu site visit.All this was for nought, as Sahade’s application was still rejected. Among the reasons given was that the development was inconsistent with the principle of Sydney Harbour as a public resource.Sahade’s only recourse is to appeal to the Land and Environment Court. Given his familiarity with courtrooms, we’d be surprised if he didn’t.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
