<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>337494</docID> <postdate>2025-02-03 14:55:08</postdate> <headline>Ex-ABC head wanted anti-Israeli journo to ‘get covid’</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-337495" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250203115310508346-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>Antoinette Lattouf is seeking damages after being taken off air from ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Miklos Bolza</strong> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>Then-ABC chair Ita Buttrose asked why a presenter with anti-Israeli views couldn't get sick and go off air before she was dismissed, emails reveal.</strong></p> <p>Senior ABC figures including then-chair Ita Buttrose discussed getting rid of a journalist from her casual radio slot after flagging they were sick of getting complaints about her anti-Israeli views.</p> <p>Antoinette Lattouf was hired by the public broadcaster to fill a five-day timeslot on the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney in December 2023.</p> <p>She lasted three days before being let go after a barrage of complaints were sent to the ABC regarding past comments she had made about the conflict in Gaza and claimed anti-Semitic chants made at rallies in Sydney.</p> <p>Lattouf has sued the ABC in the Federal Court over her dismissal.</p> <p>Her barrister Oshie Fagir told a hearing on Monday that Ms Buttrose, then-ABC managing director David Anderson and chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor discussed how to get rid of her after a concerted campaign from a pro-Israel lobbying group.</p> <p>"Has Antoinette been replaced? I'm over getting emails about her," Ms Buttrose wrote in one email.</p> <p>"Why can't she come down with flu or covid or a stomach upset? We owe her nothing."</p> <p>An initial ABC investigation found Lattouf did not breach the broadcaster's code of conduct, but the three senior executives also conducted their own investigation, Justice Darryl Rangiah heard.</p> <p>Mr Anderson said she should take a managed exit at the end of the five-day shift, agreeing with Mr Oliver-Taylor's opinion there would be "phenomenal blowback" if she was fired.</p> <p>Lattouf was dismissed that same day after reposting, without comment, an Instagram post from Human Rights Watch about starvation in Gaza being used by the Israeli government as a "tool of war".</p> <p>The ABC had reported on the same claims in the days beforehand.</p> <p>The journalist was told she had breached the broadcaster's social media policy because the post called into question the organisation's impartiality.</p> <p>On Monday, she sat supported by her husband Danny in the court's public gallery, which was filled with onlookers, including some seated on the floor.</p> <p>Lattouf said in court documents that she opposed Israel's military campaign in Gaza, supported Palestinian human rights and believed the media should report on the conflict accurately and impartially.</p> <p>The names of nine individuals who made complaints against her were suppressed to protect their personal safety.</p> <p>The ABC is accused of failing to comply with its own processes and breaching the enterprise agreement by terminating Lattouf's employment based on her political opinions and race.</p> <p>Mr Oliver-Taylor's claims that Lattouf was fired because she breached a direction she was given to avoid posting about Israel and Gaza were described as unusual by her barrister.</p> <p>"It might be thought to be unusual that an employer would defend a claim of discrimination by arguing it had one rule for Ms Lattouf and another for everyone else," Mr Fagir said.</p> <p>She is seeking damages over the negative impact to her reputation, loss of future work prospects, hurt and distress.</p> <p>In its defence, the ABC said it did not terminate Lattouf's employment but rather it ended on December 22 after the five days due to the "effluxion of time".</p> <p>The broadcaster did not require the journalist to work on the last two days as a casual presenter under conditions of her contract, it said.</p> <p>The hearing continues.</p> </body>