By Duncan Murray in Sydney

The ABC executive who dismissed journalist Antoinette Lattouf from her post as a casual radio presenter initially warned his bosses removing her would cause “phenomenal blowback”.

The broadcaster’s outgoing content chief, Chris Oliver-Taylor, says he was “between a rock and a hard place” as pressure mounted from ABC chair Ita Buttrose to remove Lattouf over her views on Israel’s war in Gaza.

Lattouf was hired to fill a five-day timeslot on the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney in December 2023.

But the 41-year-old was dismissed after three days on air after sharing a Human Rights Watch post that said Israel had used starvation as a “weapon of war” in Gaza.

She is suing the ABC in the Federal Court for unfair dismissal, seeking penalties and damages.

Mr Oliver-Taylor told the court on Friday he didn’t like comments made by Ms Buttrose about Lattouf in a December 19 email to the broadcaster’s managing director David Anderson.

“Has Antoinette been replaced? I’m over getting emails about her,” the court was told Ms Buttrose said in the email.

“Why can’t she come down with flu or COVID or a stomach upset?

“We owe her nothing. We’re copping criticism because she wasn’t honest when she was appointed.”

At the time, it was Mr Oliver-Taylor’s position that Lattouf should remain in her role until the end of the week, the court was told.

He responded with an email to Mr Anderson that said: “The blowback will be phenomenal. I recommend we hold (until) Friday.”

“I didn’t like the comments from the chair, but I have no context for them,” Mr Oliver-Taylor told the court.

The situation was being “managed” and he believed Lattouf had been told not to post anything related to the war and was performing well on air.

“I was getting very confused and concerned as to what we should do,” Mr Oliver-Taylor said.

He denied being aware that at the time the ABC had received complaints from pro-Israel lobbyists about Lattouf, adding he was unaware that she was of Lebanese background.

Following the email exchange, Mr Anderson forwarded screenshots of some of Lattouf’s prior posts to Mr Oliver-Taylor, telling him the ABC had an “Antoinette issue” and her social media feeds contained “anti-Semitic hatred”.

Mr Oliver-Taylor agreed the posts were an issue that might put the ABC in a position of appearing biased, but he said he had not viewed many of the posts himself.

“My response was, I think this is hugely problematic,” he said.

“He uses words like ‘full of anti-Semitic hatred’ and I have the decision to make around, do I put someone with those views unchecked on air within 10 hours?”

In an email on December 20, Mr Oliver-Taylor said it was “ill-informed” for the ABC to have hired Lattouf, citing her position on the Gaza war and signing of a petition calling for ethical reporting on Israel and Palestine.

“It was her published views that meant there could be a perception of bias,” he told the court.

The ABC’s social media guidelines differentiate between employees’ use of official accounts and their personal profiles, which are not subject to editorial policies.

Mr Oliver-Taylor said the ABC did not require its employees to be impartial in every aspect of their lives, but there were circumstances where that requirement could extend further.

He has since resigned and will be leaving ABC at the end of February.

The hearing continues before Justice Darryl Rangiah.