Sydney: Antoinette Lattouf, the former ABC Radio host, was terminated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) following a coordinated effort by the Jewish Lawyers, members of a WhatsApp group called ‘Lawyers for Israel’. Secret WhatsApp messages from this group revealed a targeted campaign to pressure ABC into terminating Lattouf over her comments on the Israel-Palestine. Lattouf had made pro-Palestine statements on social media, prompting the Israeli Lobby’s influential legal group to mobilize its 156 members in an attempt to sway the broadcaster.
According to details, the secret messages from the WhatsApp group ‘Lawyers for Israel’ have surfaced on the internet. The messages exposed a strategy to inundate ABC leadership and politicians with emails pressuring them to oust Lattouf for her criticism of the Israeli government and military for attacking and killing thousands of innocent civilians, including women and children. Members of Lawyers for Israel, including high-powered Jewish lawyers, encouraged legal threats unless Lattouf was dismissed, leveraging their influence to exert pressure on the ABC.
Whoa. Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) reports that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (@ABCaustralia) sacked award-winning Australian-Lebanese host @antoinette_news after a "high-level and coordinated letter-writing campaign from pro-Israel lobbyists."https://t.co/4kotVeJXrp
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) January 16, 2024
Following ABC’s decision, the Australian Senator David Shoebridge said, “(Antoinette Lattouf) has just been sacked by the ABC for telling the truth. Today it’s about the war on Palestine. But telling the truth about any of our wars is pretty dangerous. This is becoming a new Australian tradition,” he said on X.
.@antoinette_news has just been been sacked by the ABC for telling the truth.
Today it’s about the war on Palestine.
But telling the truth about any of our wars is pretty dangerous.
This is becoming a new Australian tradition.
— David Shoebridge (@DavidShoebridge) December 20, 2023
The ABC swiftly responded to the campaign, with Lattouf being terminated within minutes of her show ending. The radio host is now pursuing legal action against ABC, claiming her dismissal was unlawful, driven by her political opinions, and partly influenced by her race and Middle Eastern cultural background.
The WhatsApp messages indicate the concerted effort by Lawyers for Israel to influence ABC’s decision, emphasizing the significance of legal threats. While the Executive Council of Australian Jewry distanced itself from the messages, asserting they did not directly contact the ABC, they approved of Lattouf’s termination, citing her conduct as justifying the broadcaster’s actions.
Following the WhatsApp messages being leaked which reveal Jewish-Israeli lobbyists being dissatisfied with Lattouf being on air, and pressuring ABC to terminate her went viral, employees at ABC’s Sydney offices are considering a strike as a sign of protest. About 80 staff members demanded a meeting with ABC managing director David Anderson, threatening a walkout if concerns about Lattouf’s dismissal were not addressed.
It is noteworthy that this is not the first time Israel and the Israeli lobby have targeted journalists. Israel has a long history of systematically attacking and getting journalists terminated for their objectivity and slightest criticism of Israel. The former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid recently made a statement regarding reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said:
“My argument is that the media cannot just claim to bring both sides of the story. If you do that, you are only bringing one – Hamas’s side,” he said
It is worth noting that Israel has consistently and systematically attacked journalists and media workers, killing at least 117 journalists since the start of its war in Gaza.
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