Texts Leaked: ‘Coordinated Campaign’ To Sack ABC Host Due To Her Gaza Stance Reveals (image-instagram/antoinette_lattouf)
The America Broadcasting Company (ABC) fired award winning Australian- Lebanese journalist Antoinette Lattouf after she reshared a social media post that reported on the atrocities of Israel in Gaza. The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) has now reported leaked WhatsApp messages showing a coordinated campaign by a group of pro-Israel lobbyists called Lawyers of Israel, behind the sacking of the host.
The group demanding the termination of the journalist, wrote letter to people at ABC including chair Itta Buttrose and managing director David Anderson. While, Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin denied all allegation of a coordinated campaign that involved its members, reports SMH.
In a statement, the public broadcaster said it has “a transparent complaints process and responds accordingly, regardless of the source of the complaint”.
Last week, Lattouf sent her submission to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) industrial tribunal after being sacked by the ABC in December. She was fired on December 20 a day after her Instagram post.
According to the FWC, “workers are protected against adverse action in employment based on activities expressing their political views”, a protection that “does not extend to politically motivated acts of violence”.
“Political opinion includes membership of a political party; expressed political, socio-political, or moral attitudes; or civic commitment,” the FWC website says.
The ABC claimed that the journalist was warned against social media posting on controversial topics before she was dismissed from the casual radio role, reports the Guardian.
On December 19 evening, Lattouf reposted a post from Human Right Watch that said, “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza”. Lattouf, a Lebanese-Australian social commentator, columnist and diversity advocate, reposted with the comment “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”.
According to Lattouf’s unlawful termination claim, she was told that her morning program had gone well. She said she was told this was a violation of ABC’s strict social media policy, but she alleged in her lawsuit that her firing was also racially motivated because of her Lebanese heritage.
The Sydney Morning Herald has also alleged that the group has been involved in a campaign against the Sydney Theater Company after some of its pro-Palestine posts.
