Media personality and prominent Greens supporter Abbie Chatfield has been accused of unleashing abuse and hatred on a former close friend over views on Israel’s war in Gaza.

Heath Kelley claims in a lawsuit he was defamed through an Instagram story published to Chatfield’s 550,000 followers on May 7, days after the federal election.

The post contained private messages between the pair after Kelley sent her a video about then-Greens leader Adam Bandt, according to court documents released to AAP today.

Bandt lost his lower house seat of Melbourne in the federal election while Chatfield had fronted some Greens events and ads.

“I’m going to sleep better at night knowing the Jewish population of Melbourne will feel safer with him gone,” he wrote.

“As a supporter of gay and women’s rights, I am pro-Israel.”

In Chatfield’s posts, she accused her former friend of 10 years of being a “right wing troll” who supported Israel’s genocide and the “slaughter of children” in Gaza, the lawsuit says.

“Any of my friends from high school watching this, just so (sic) Heath Kelley supports genocide if you want to reconsider your friendships,” she said.

These comments allegedly defamed Kelley by claiming he supported the killing of children, gay men and women in Palestine.

Kelley, for whom Chatfield professed her love in a post in 2019 of the pair dancing, said the pair were friends from high school until at least 2021, at times in Chatfield’s “closest friendship circle”.

But the Instagram story triggered a legal concerns notice to the Bachelor Australia runner-up on May 20.

In it, his lawyer highlighted concerns from Melbourne’s Jewish population about Bandt’s “politicisation of their community” and suggested LGBTQI people and women enjoyed stronger protections in Israel than in occupied Palestine.

Kelley categorically denied the claims in the May 7 Instagram story.

“Our client does not, and never has, supported genocide or the slaughter of children,” lawyer Paul Svilans wrote.

“He finds the concepts abhorrent.”

The allegedly defamatory statements were “inherently serious” and came from private messages shared in a breach of confidence, the lawsuit in late September reads.

“The harm caused or likely to be caused by the story is exacerbated by the fact that the current conflict in Gaza is a subject of intense political and social controversy in Australia,” Svilans wrote.

After the story was published and Kelley tagged, he was exposed to hatred, ridicule and contempt, the lawsuit said.

“You chose to publicly vilify our client in the most abusive and extreme manner to your hundreds of thousands of followers,” Svilans wrote.

Branding Kelley a “troll” was hypocritical and would be relied on to seek aggravated damages, the lawsuit says.

He has engaged high-profile defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC to represent him in court.

As well as damages and compensation, the case seeks court orders barring the podcaster from repeating the allegedly defamatory statements.

An offer that Chatfield apologise to her former friend and pay him $95,000 was not taken up before the lawsuit was filed, court documents reveal.

In response to the May 20 concerns notice, the TV star accused Kelley of “extortion” and claimed he was trying to benefit financially from their former friendship, the lawsuit says.

Chatfield has not responded to a request for comment.

The 30-year-old rose to fame as runner-up on The Bachelor in 2019 before carving out a notable position as a commentator, particularly on issues affecting young women.

An electoral commission investigation in April cleared her of breaching authorisation laws when interviewing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and hosting a gig with Bandt at a Melbourne nightclub.