Australia’s ABC to pay further penalty to reporter fired over Gaza post | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf was fired after commenting on a Human Rights Watch report that hunger was getting used a ‘device of struggle’ by Israel in Gaza.

A court docket has ordered the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) to pay a further penalty to a radio journalist who was fired over a social media submit on Israel’s war in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Federal Courtroom decide Darryl Rangiah stated the termination of journalist Antoinette Lattouf in December 2023 precipitated very “vital penalties” for her.

“For most individuals, employment is not only a supply of revenue, however contributes considerably to their sense of goal, id and self-worth,” he stated.

Simply three days into an off-the-cuff contract with ABC, Lattouf was fired after a Human Rights Watch video report with the remark, “HRW reporting hunger as a device of struggle”.

Rangiah had beforehand stated the ABC had damaged employment legislation for firing Lattouf for “purpose together with that she held political views opposing the Israeli navy marketing campaign in Gaza”.

Nonetheless, whereas ABC is considered within the nation as a broadcaster that stories impartially, it was ordered on Wednesday to pay $98,900, along with $46,100 that was already decided this yr for the journalist.

In a submit on social media on Tuesday, Lattouf stated the ABC had spent “effectively over $2 million of taxpayer cash preventing me”.

“Regardless of the penalty, for me this was by no means about cash – it’s all the time been about accountability and the integrity of the knowledge our public broadcaster provides us,” she stated.

“I hope the ABC takes this chance to revive credibility, regain belief, and re-establish integrity, as a result of our democracy relies on a powerful fourth property.”

ABC’s managing director, Hugh Marks, stated the broadcaster would “replicate” on the court docket’s findings.

“We take the matter severely and have mirrored on the teachings discovered and their implications. We should be higher,” he stated.

Lattouf ‘s submit got here three months after the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,139 folks and led to the seize of about 200 others, of whom 48 stay in Gaza.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed 65,382 folks, wounded 166,985, and led to a widespread humanitarian disaster, the enclave’s Ministry of Well being reported on Tuesday.

Final week, a United Nations inquiry formally discovered Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Amnesty Worldwide has beforehand reached the identical conclusion because the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS).