Veteran journalist Peter Lalor was removed from SEN’s coverage of Australia’s Test series in Sri Lanka over his social media posts. Australia batsman Usman Khawaja has condemned a radio station's decision to drop cricket journalist Peter Lalor from its coverage of the Sri Lanka Test series over social media posts related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Australian radio station SEN confirmed on Tuesday it had parted ways with Lalor, the former chief cricket writer of The Australian newspaper, after dialogue with him about some of the commentary on his social media.
Lalor's feed on X includes re-posts of news stories about Israeli attacks in Gaza and accusations of genocide levelled at the Israeli government. Pakistan-born Khawaja, who has been vocal in his support for Palestinians, wrote on Instagram that Lalor "deserved better". "Standing up for the people of Gaza is not antisemitic nor does it have anything to do with my Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia, but everything to do with the Israeli government and their deplorable actions," Khawaja said.
"It has everything to do with justice and human rights. Unfortunately hatred towards the Jewish and Muslim community will always exist.". Australia has been grappling with a series of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late-2023. Lalor, who was working as a freelance commentator for SEN, said he was told by the station's management that there were accusations he was antisemitic, which he objected to.
