Australian Test opener Usman Khawaja has come out swinging for a cricket journalist dropped from radio coverage of the Sri Lanka tour for retweeting posts about the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Peter Lalor said Australia's Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) told him his retweets were imbalanced, insensitive to one side and had sparked many complaints.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In a statement Monday, Lalor said network boss Craig Hutchison told him that he had "made people feel unsafe" and could not work for the station any more as a freelancer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Australian journalist said he was not anti-Semitic and felt compassion to both sides living in fear in the conflict "yet I cannot remain quiet when so many innocent people are being slaughtered".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Khawaja subsequently posted the story on social media, saying "standing up for the people of Gaza is not anti-Semitic nor does it have anything to do with my Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But it had "everything to do with the Israeli government and their deplorable actions", he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Unfortunately, hatred towards the Jewish and Muslim community will always exist. Peter is a good guy with a good heart. He deserves better."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
SEN confirmed in a statement published by Australian media that it had split with Lalor, who had been covering the tour on a freelance basis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Hutchison said in the statement he and Lalor had discussed the journalist's social media feed but had a "different view of the impact of that in the Australian community".<\/p>\r\n\r\n