The Federal Court ruled Lattouf was unlawfully dismissed for expressing her opinion on the Israel-Gaza conflict. She is now seeking "significant penalties" against the broadcaster.
Lattouf was hired for a one-week stint on ABC Radio Sydney Mornings before Christmas 2023. She was removed just hours after senior staff saw she had shared a Human Rights Watch post accusing Israel of using starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza.
On Wednesday, Justice Darryl Rangiah found the ABC breached employment law by dismissing her for political beliefs. The court was filled with her supporters as the decision was delivered.
At the time, the ABC was under pressure from a campaign of complaints reportedly driven by a pro-Israel lobby group. Rangiah found the broadcaster failed to give Lattouf a chance to respond before firing her.
The court ordered $70,000 compensation for the emotional distress caused by her dismissal.
Outside court, Lattouf said she was fired for highlighting the suffering of Palestinian children. "Deliberately starving children is a war crime," she said. "Today the court has found that punishing someone for sharing facts about war crimes is also illegal."
Her lawyer Josh Bornstein said she offered to settle for $85,000 in August, but the ABC rejected the offer and spent over $1.1 million defending the case.
"When organisations capitulate to bad faith complaints against staff, the results are often perverse," he said. "It has been a privilege to represent Antoinette Lattouf in this important case about corporate cancel culture."
He said further penalties would be sought to prevent similar conduct in future.
ABC Managing Director Hugh Marks admitted the broadcaster failed to handle the situation properly.
"It's clear the matter was not handled in line with our values and expectations," he said. "We also let down our staff and audiences, and this failure has caused understandable concern among the public and inside the organisation."
Lattouf argued her dismissal involved then-ABC chair Ita Buttrose, former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor and former managing director David Anderson. But the judge found the decision rested solely with Oliver-Taylor, who acted to limit complaints about her views.
"Mr Oliver-Taylor sought to appease members of the public, who would attribute to Ms Lattouf the holding of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic opinions, by taking her off air," Rangiah said.
