ABC journalist Fouad Abu Gosh spikes anti-Israel tweets

An ABC news producer based in Jerusalem has deleted his Twitter account after the national broadcaster was alerted to a series of anti-Israel posts in his social media.

An ABC news producer based in Jerusalem has deleted his Twitter account after the national broadcaster was alerted to a series of his social media posts.

An ABC news producer based in Jerusalem has deleted his Twitter account after the national broadcaster was alerted to a series of his social media posts in which he compares Israeli police to Nazis, and warns of a Zionist conspiracy to take over the entire Middle East.

Fouad Abu Gosh, who has worked as a news producer for the ABC since 2014, and won a Walkley Award in 2016 for his reporting from Syria, may have breached the national broadcaster’s social media policy with his provocative anti-Israel posts.

One year ago, the ABC’s managing director David Anderson announced an overhaul of the guidelines surrounding staff members’ personal use of social media platforms, after several high-profile journalists at the taxpayer-funded giant attracted criticism for inappropriate and defamatory posts.

Mr Anderson reminded staff that they should have a disclaimer on their social media accounts making it clear that posts or likes “are your personal view and do not represent the views of the ABC”.

Prior to the deletion of his Twitter account last week, the bio on Abu Gosh’s page read: “Middle East producer for Australian Broadcasting Corporation, opinions are mine and ABC’s.”

In October last year, Abu Gosh warned that “there is a great Zionist project to dominate and control all Arabs in the region!!”.

In April this year, he posted a screenshot of Israeli police detaining an unidentified civilian, and added a comment: “This is how the Nazis treated the Jews, maybe it’s time for....!!!!”

The Australian first contacted the ABC’s communications department and Mr Anderson on August 28 to inquire if the national broadcaster was concerned about the nature of Abu Gosh’s social media posts.

ABC news producer Fouad AbuGosh.

An ABC spokesman finally responded to The Australian four days later, by which time Abu Gosh had deleted his Twitter account, which had been active since May 2014.

The spokesman requested screenshots of the relevant social media posts of Abu Gosh, which The Australian provided.

Despite repeated requests for follow-up comment from the ABC – and from Mr Anderson himself – The Australian received no reply.

Attempts to contact Abu Gosh directly were unsuccessful.

Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, expressed concern at the ABC’s lack of action over Abu Gosh’s social media posts.

“These revelations about extreme and offensive views and what can be described as activism by a key ABC employee are deeply concerning and should be addressed by editorial management given the ABC’s statutory obligation to ensure its news and current affairs content is fair and balanced,” Dr Rubenstein said.

Last month, The New York Times terminated its relationship with Fady Hanona, a Palestinian freelance journalist and “fixer” in the Gaza Strip, after a series of anti-Semitic posts were discovered on his social media accounts.

An ABC spokesman told The Australian that Hanona had done work for the national broadcaster, but not in his direct capacity as a journalist: “He has garaged an ABC car in Gaza and carried out ad hoc logistics work for stories in Gaza. He is not an employee and the ABC hasn’t aired any stories by him. After being made aware this week of his past comments the ABC will not be working with him any further.”