Media scrutiny grows after Australian Broadcaster drops Palestinian interview

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe today accused the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) of suppressing a “crucial Palestinian voice” after it reportedly pulled from its website an interview with Nasser Mashni, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN).

“This morning, I noticed the interview Nasser Mashni gave to ABC yesterday was pulled from their website without explanation,” Thorpe posted on X. “As the horror in Gaza escalates, it appears the ABC has chosen to suppress a crucial Palestinian voice. They should explain why.”

Mashni’s interview aired yesterday following comments by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemning Israeli actions in Gaza. The interview was initially published on ABC’s website but had been removed by this morning, according to local outlet Crikey.

Albanese yesterday described Israel’s ongoing siege and blockade of Gaza as “completely unacceptable.”

“I made it very clear that Australia finds these actions as completely unacceptable, and we find Israel’s excuses and explanations completely untenable and without credibility,” he told reporters. “People are starving, and the idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage. Now, that is my clear position.”

Senator Thorpe, however, dismissed the remarks as inadequate and accused the government of complicity.

“We’ve heard the cries of mothers and fathers as they hold their maimed children, while Israel continues its campaign of unrelenting psychological warfare and terrorism,” she said. “Yet Albanese still offers nothing but empty words and cowardice – choosing to remain an ally of Israel.”

She urged the government to take decisive action.

“We cannot wait for Gaza to be flattened – for its people to be slaughtered and displaced – before this government pretends that they were always against it,” she wrote on X.