The journalist was fired in December 2023 after she posted a HRW report on Israel using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza [Getty/file photo]
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has claimed on Monday that there is no such thing as “the Lebanese, Arab or Middle Eastern race”, in the first day of a trial against journalist Antoinette Lattouf over her December 2023 social media posts on Gaza, after she said that her ethnic background might have played a role in the move.
Lattouf’s counsel said during the trial that her Lebanese heritage might have been one of the possible reasons behind her shock dismissal, in a breach of the anti-discrimination protections given to workers by the Fair Work Act.
The counsel stated that they believed the Lebanese Australian journalist would not have been targeted to this extent or dismissed if she had come from a different background.
Lattouf’s barrister, Oshie Fagir, said on Monday: “Now this is a model litigant, an organisation that publicly suggests that it is confronting and treating seriously the concerns of its diverse workforce, and it comes to this court and says that Ms Lattouf should fail because it has not been proven that there is such thing as a Lebanese race,” as cited by The Guardian.
ABC’s barrister, Ian Neil, rejected Lattouf’s raising the issue of race, saying it was “not a discrimination case but a case about the reason for Lattouf’s termination”.
Lattouf was sacked in December 2023 only three days into her casual role as a radio host at the Australian broadcaster Radio Sydney’s “Mornings” programme, after she shared a Human Rights Watch report accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
Evidence has supported the claim throughout Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave, as the Israeli army had deliberately prevented humanitarian relief from reaching those in need in Gaza.
In June last year, the Fair Work Commission said Lattouf had been “unfairly dismissed” after she was sacked with two more slots remaining in her five-day contract.
Lattouf said she was fired on grounds of “political opinion or a reason that included political opinion”, and proceeded to sue the broadcaster.
The journalist also accused ABC of firing her following pressure from the “Lawyers for Israel” lobby group, who had threatened legal action against the broadcaster if they did not sack her.
Lattouf revealed during the trial at Sydney’s federal court that she had been subject to defamation, threats, lies and derision, and resorted to consuming greater amounts of alcohol and sleeping tablets to help her sleep, as she suffered psychologically following her dismissal.
She disclosed that she has been suffering from paranoia, and felt like she was being followed at least on one occasion.
The journalist said one of the ways in which she was ridiculed in public was when the ABC chair, Kim Williams, denied the findings of the Fair Work Commission at the National Press Club in November last year.
Lattouf said Williams told the press club “she wasn’t sacked” and went on to take “swipes” at her for publicity surrounding the case.
The first day of the trial revealed several disparaging comments made by the broadcaster’s senior members of staff towards the Australian Lebanese.
Ita Buttrose, the former ABC chair, reportedly emailed managing director David Anderson: “Can’t she come down with flu or COVID or a stomach upset? We owe her nothing.”
Lattouf’s firing came amid a wave of crackdowns in Western media on journalists speaking out against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza or expressing pro-Palestinian support amid Israel’s military campaign which killed more than 61,700 Palestinians.
Her trial is set to last all week, with more individuals involved expecting to present evidence in the case.
During one moment amid the trial, an emotional Lattouf said “she never wanted to be the face” of such a case. “I shared a Human Rights Watch post.”
