Anti-Semitism among several employees of the Arabic editorial staff of Deutsche Welle

Bonn - This is what the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote in its Wednesday edition, citing an extensive analysis of a large number of social media posts and articles published in Arab media. One editor on Facebook, for example, called the Holocaust an "artificial product" and wrote that the Jews would continue to "control people's brains through art, media and music".

Before their time at the German international broadcaster, which is financed with almost 400 million euros in taxpayers' money, another employee wrote columns in an Arabic-language newspaper and wrote, among other things: "If the Islamic State were to fight for liberation in Palestine, I would revise my judgment about it, its men and its financiers. And if they kicked the Israelis out of the Holy Land, then I would be in their ranks." A correspondent for the station wrote in a tweet suggesting a reference to Israel of a" barbaric war machine", a freelancer at the Deutsche Welle academy, which works independently of the editorial team, tweeted: "The Holocaust is a lie #FreedomOfSpeech."

The two journalists admitted that their statements were an advocate for freedom of expression understood or taken out of context, writes the SZ. The latter wrote a spokesman for the station in a statement also with regard to Facebook posts by an employee, to which the editorial management was informed at least twice by Internet users, according to information from the SZ.

As a result of the SZ inquiries, some affected employees deleted their accounts or individual posts on social media. But too late: The newspaper was able to save the statements in question and many more according to its own information in advance by means of a screenshot.

Deutsche Welle said: The investigation will deal with the statements cited in the article by DW employees in other publications and their private profiles on social media. The Deutsche Welle law and the behavior at the broadcaster clearly stipulate which values ​​all employees must respect and represent internally and externally. "The editor-in-chief's code clearly shows which journalistic principles they have to observe when dealing with anti-Semitism."

After an initial check, the broadcaster will "immediately draw conclusions if violations of these rules prove to be true".

Deutsche Welle (DW) is the international broadcaster of Germany and an institution under public law. However, it is not financed from broadcasting fees, but from taxpayers' money. Most recently the broadcaster received around 400 million euros a year.

This is not the first time DW received accusations. In August, 2019 they were accused of censorship by an Indian journalist, then in January, 2020 the broadcaster was accused of racism, bullying, anti-Semitism and sexism by former employees.

Sources: Der Newsticker / Süddeutsche Zeitung

Photo: imago stock & people / imago / Martin Müller.