Journalist Antoinette Lattouf had been fired in December 2023 for expressing views supporting Palestine.
Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) unlawfully dismissed a radio journalist over a social media put up associated to Israel’s warfare on Gaza, a court docket has stated.
The ABC fired radio host Antoinette Lattouf in December 2023 for expressing views supporting Palestine and calling for Israel to finish its bombardment of Gaza. The sacking got here shortly after she posted on social media a Human Rights Watch report alleging that Israel was utilizing hunger as a weapon of warfare in Gaza.
Lattouf took authorized motion after being dismissed three days right into a five-day informal contract with the ABC.
The broadcaster broke employment legislation by terminating her “for causes together with that she held political beliefs opposing the Israeli navy marketing campaign in Gaza”, Federal Court docket Justice Darryl Rangiah stated in his ruling on Wednesday.
ABC senior administration’s consternation over the put up (by HRW on Instagram) became a “state of panic”, the decide stated, and a call was made to take her off the air “throughout the hour”.
The broadcaster has apologised after being ordered to pay Antoinette Lattouf $70,000 Australian {dollars} ($45,000) in compensation, with an additional monetary penalty but to be determined.
“We remorse how the choice to take away Ms Lattouf from air was dealt with and the misery occasioned her,” ABC managing director Hugh Marks stated.
“It’s clear the matter was not dealt with in step with our values and expectations,” he added in a press release.
“We additionally let down our employees and audiences, and this failure has brought about comprehensible concern among the many public and contained in the organisation,” he added.
Since Israel’s warfare on Gaza started in October 2023, journalists throughout the globe have been fired for expressing solidarity in direction of Palestinians.
Jackson Frank, a sports activities reporter in Philadelphia, was fired by PhillyVoice.com due to his tweets supporting the Palestinian trigger.
Zahraa al-Akhrass was dismissed by her employer, Canada’s World Information, attributable to her social media posts drawing consideration to the struggling of the Palestinians.
Kasem Raad was fired from his job at Welt TV, a subsidiary of German media firm Axel Springer, for questioning inner pro-Israel insurance policies.
Massive Tech corporations together with Google and Microsoft have additionally fired staff who’ve referred to as on the businesses to withdraw their help of Israel.
Final April, Google fired 28 staff following a sit-down protest over the tech large’s contract to offer cloud computing and synthetic intelligence providers to the Israeli authorities.
Microsoft additionally fired two staff for organising a pro-Palestine vigil final 12 months.