Antoinette Lattouf’s story stands out among the many journalists who were targeted, attacked, and punished for criticizing Israel; that’s because, in her case, some justice was actually served.
In 2023, Lattouf was fired from her job presenting ABC Sydney, a magazine-style radio program, after sharing a Human Rights Watch report on social media, which detailed Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians.
“I was essentially asked to leave the building as though I was some criminal who had done something so egregious that I couldn’t continue my stint on air, and I had to leave immediately,” Lattouf tells Mehdi.
Her unlawful firing shed light on Australia’s “enormously influential” pro-Israel lobby, as she put it, and the control it has over the country’s media. “Almost every major media outlet has had one of their senior, if not most of their senior editorial leaders, go on Israel-funded junkets,” she alleges. (This interview took place before the cancellation of the Adelaide Writers’ Week following cancellations from invited authors protesting the removal of Randa Abdel-Fattah from the lineup).
ABC was forced to pay nearly $145,000 in damages to Lattouf for unlawful termination, a victory she plans to capitalize on. “People wanted me to step away from the microphone… and what they inadvertently did was hand me a larger microphone, and I intend to use it.”
Paid subscribers can watch the full interview above to hear the claims ABC’s former managing director made about Lattouf’s social media post, why she feels her victory was “hollow,” and how prominent anti-Palestinian sentiment is in Australia’s biggest news organizations.
Free subscribers can watch a 3-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to never hit another paywall again!
***Editor’s note: This interview was taped before the horrific and tragic mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach on December 14, which left at least 15 people dead.
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This Tuesday: A special LIVE in-person event. Join Mehdi, Swin, Ro Khanna, Joy Reid, Jim Acosta, Sarah Matthews, and Miles Taylor, for a powerful evening at the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Jan 20, 2026!
