Ita Buttrose is the new chair of the ABC.
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Antoinette Lattouf was hired for a week-long stint on ABC Radio Sydney’s Mornings program before Christmas 2023.

She was let go after sharing a Human Rights Watch post that said Israel was using starvation as a “weapon of war” in Gaza.

The 41-year-old woman brought her wrongful dismissal case before the Federal Court, with Justice Darryl Rangiah delivering the verdict in a courtroom filled with her supporters today.

The judge ordered the ABC to pay $70,000 in compensation to Lattouf.

A potential pecuniary penalty will be determined at a later hearing.

He did not order any penalties against the national broadcaster as sought by the journalist.

In a February hearing, she argued that her dismissal was due to her ethnicity and political views after she made public remarks on the situation of Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict with Israel.

Justice Rangiah was informed that Lattouf was dismissed just 48 hours after a pro-Israeli group initiated a campaign, inundating ABC executives, including the then-chair Ita Buttrose, with complaints.

Ita Buttrose is the new chair of the ABC.
Ita Buttrose was bombarded with complaints over Antoinette Lattouf’s comments. (AAP)

The public broadcaster was accused of taking a partisan view despite claiming to be an impartial news source.

However, the ABC denied this.

The broadcaster claimed it took Lattouf off the air because she failed to follow a direction not to post about Israel or the war in Gaza during her five-day shift.

She rejected this, saying her direct supervisor, Elizabeth Green, agreed she could post facts from reputable sources.

As well as Buttrose, she also targeted the ABC’s former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor and former managing director David Anderson as being responsible for the allegedly unlawful termination.

She blamed the broadcaster for making her sacking public after an article in The Australian was put out before she had returned home the day she was fired.

ABC executives blamed head of capital city networks Steve Ahern for putting the organisation in an “unacceptable position” by failing to assess Lattouf’s history before hiring her, the court previously was told.

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