German TV host fired for attending West Bank protest against Israeli occupation
Berlin (QNN)- A presenter of a children’s television show in Germany was fired from his job this week over taking part in an anti-occupation protest in the occupied West Bank in August.
Matondo Castlo, the first black host of a show on publicly-funded kid’s channel KiKa, was fired after the right-wing newspaper Bild reported his participation along with peaceful Palestinians in the weekly anti-occupation protest in Beit Dajan village in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
In a statement posted on social media, Castlo confirmed that he helped renovate a school and attended a “peaceful demonstration” in the West Bank.
Castlo said, “I didn’t intend to express a political statement and particularly not position myself against Israel. I immediately stated this publicly and explained this to KiKa many times.”
Mir kommen die Tränen vor Wut. Der einzige Schwarze Moderator bei Ki.Ka wurde nun offiziell gefeuert, weil er an einem Festival teilnahm, wo er sich für von illegaler Besatzung betroffenen bitterarme palästinensische Kinder einsetzte. Das ist wie ein nie endender Horror-Film. pic.twitter.com/s0avuDRmBG
— Malcolm Ụzọma Ohanwe (@MalcolmOhanwe) December 5, 2022
The protest took place in August in Beit Dajan, where peaceful demonstrations have been held on an almost-weekly basis against Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian lands, which have in turn faced violent suppression by the Israeli occupation forces.
Hanno Hauenstein behauptet im Deutschlandfunk, Ex-Kika Moderator Matondo Castlo habe nicht mit Steinewerfern gegen Israel demonstriert. Das ist falsch. Er verteidigt zudem Nemi El-Hassan erneut gegen #Antisemitismus Vorwürfe. #ReformOERR #OERRBlog https://t.co/tr1FNflRfC pic.twitter.com/9lDniuZaoi
— ÖRR Blog. (@OERRBlog) December 6, 2022
Kerem Schamberger, who has taken part in the annual festival for over a decade, said the 100-person protest was “peaceful,” but that the Israeli forces declared the area to be a closed military zone and “started shooting rubber bullets and [tear-]gas grenades.” At this point, Schamberger added, youths from the village responded by throwing stones, and none of the international allies joined them.
Weil TV-Moderator Matondo Castlo dieses Jahr auf dem Farkha-Jugendfestival in Palästina (Westbank) teilgenommen hat, wurde er nun vom KiKa gekündigt. Er war der einzige schwarze Moderator bei dem Kinderkanal. Und das sagt eigentlich schon alles über den deutschen Diskurs aus.
— Kerem Schamberger (@KeremSchamberg) December 5, 2022
On top of working at KiKa since August 2021, Schamberger added that Castlo is also a social worker in Berlin, which is home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees, and that he wanted to better understand the context that they came from.
The Farkha festival brings internationals for “one week of volunteer work, political discussions and workshops on the Palestinian struggles towards liberation, on struggles of Palestinian women, on left perspectives and cultural activities.”
This year, it drew 45 volunteers from different countries, including Jewish participants, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said.
Bild’s story is titled “Extremist festival: KiKa host demonstrates alongside Israel haters.” Since the reports, KiKa “decided together [with Castlo] to not continue the work with him until all aspects are clarified.”
Bild is part of the Axel Springer conglomerate, the Berlin-based agency which told its 16,000 employees to find another job last year if they have a problem with an Israeli flag being raised outside the company headquarters.
This came after an Israeli flag was put up in front of the headquarters of Axel Springer in Berlin as there were pro-Palestinian demonstrations across Germany, chanting slogans in support of Palestine following the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza.
Workers who complained about an Israeli flag being posted outside Europe’s largest digital publishing house should look for new jobs, Axel Springer CEO told the employees in June 2021.
“After careful consideration KiKA decided to not continue the collaboration with Matondo Castlo. Please understand that we are not allowed to publish more information due to reasons of privacy,” the company told Haaretz.
This year, seven journalists were sacked by Deutsche Welle over allegations of antisemitism related to pro-Palestinian activism. A German labor court, however, ordered the public broadcaster to reinstate three of them.
There are several cases highlighting the shrinking space for Palestine advocacy in Germany, where pro-Palestinian speech is dismissed and framed almost automatically as antisemitic.
Pro-Palestine censorship in Germany escalated following the passage of an anti-BDS resolution in the German parliament in 2019.
By categorizing the movement as antisemitic, the resolution effectively restricted all organizations that endorse BDS from accessing public funds and public space.
The silencing of Palestine advocates also goes beyond the BDS debate, as it is rooted in Germany’s long standing ideological support for ‘Israel’. It is partly in Germany’s efforts to atone for the Holocaust.
In 2017, Germany adopted the contoversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism.
In 2020, Germany took over the chairmanship of IHRA.
The IHRA definition includes problematic examples of antisemitism that have been criticised by human rights groups as well as some liberal Zionist organisations.
Some of the most controversial examples of antisemitism provided by the IHRA include banning anyone from “applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation”.
Another example presented in the IHRA definition: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, eg, by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
The definition is simply designed to silence criticism of ‘Israel’ and of Zionism by equating this criticism with antisemitism.
The examples have also been used by Israel lobby groups to disrupt the activities of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement around the world by claiming that a boycott of Israel is anti-Semitic.
