DW suspends 5 journalists over posts criticizing ‘Israel’
Ramallah (QNN)- Deutsche Welle (DW), the German public state-owned international broadcaster, suspended five Arab journalists, including two Palestinian citizens, over posts, criticizing ‘Israel’.
The German broadcaster decided to form a commission of inquiry, consisting of the former German Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and the Palestinian psychiatrist Ahmad Mansour.
The suspended journalists are DW’s office director in Beirut Basel Aridi, in addition to the journalists Dawood Ibrahim, Murhaf Mahmoud, Maram Maraqa, and Farah Salem.
German media sources said the charges against the journalists are related to posts that they shared on their personal accounts on social media in addition to old articles published on their personal blogs and Arabic newspapers. Some of the writings date back to 2000 and some were deleted.
The writings criticize the behavior of the occupation state of ‘Israel’ and its settlers’ violence.
The German state-owned DW international broadcaster had announced earlier on Sunday that it has suspended its cooperation with Roya group, citing accusations that the Jordanian broadcaster spreads antisemitic content and caricatures on its social media accounts.
DW has long been criticized for its biased reporting on Israeli violations against Palestinians. Media outlets in Germany have adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which equates criticism of ‘Israel’ or its behaviour to antisemitism.
Last May, during Israel’s deadly aggression on the Gaza Strip, DW distributed an internal memo to its journalists, forbidding them to make, or let any guest make any connection between the state of ‘Israel’ and colonialism.
In the reporting guide sent to the staff, DW’s editorial board banned its reporters and editors from covering Israeli crimes of “apartheid” and persecution of Palestinians.
The two-page reporting guide, which was leaked and shared on social media, underlined that the Holocaust’s legacy and Germany’s special responsibility towards ‘Israel’ remain cornerstones of the country’s constitution and its foreign policy.
