Antoinette Lattouf, a Lebanese-Australian journalist, was recently fired from the Australian broadcaster ABC after posting a report on Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. The Fair Work Commission ruled her dismissal unfair, stating that ABC had unlawfully terminated her contract.
Despite ABC’s claims that she breached editorial guidelines, the commission found that Lattouf’s employment was terminated at the network’s initiative. This ruling now allows Lattouf to pursue an unlawful termination case in Australia’s Federal Court.
Her social media post, sharing a Human Rights Watch report, led to her sacking and revealed pressures from a pro-Israel group on ABC to remove her. Despite ABC denying outside influence, the commission found evidence of knowledge of these pressures within the network.
Overall, Lattouf expressed both relief and disappointment with the outcome, emphasizing that she was fired for sharing factual information that ABC itself was reporting. This case sheds light on the complexities of media integrity and the influence of external actors in news reporting.