The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

El-Hassan insists on the right to criticize Israel

2021-11-02T19:27:24.055Z


"I am a Palestinian, whether the German public agrees or not": After accusations of anti-Semitism, Nemi El-Hassan did not become a Quarks moderator. Now she takes a stand - and criticizes the WDR.


Nemi El-Hassan: "I am a Palestinian and my family history is forever closely linked to the history of the State of Israel"

Photo:

Tilman Schenk / WDR

The Palestinian journalist Nemi El-Hassan misses an honest debate in Germany about how anti-Semitism can be differentiated from positions critical of Israel.

"I am and will remain a Palestinian, whether the German public agrees or not," she wrote on Tuesday in a guest article on the website of the "Berliner Zeitung".

You claim for yourself the right to criticize the Israeli government.

This is not allowed in Germany with its Holocaust past.

WDR examines the possibility of editorial tasks behind the camera

The 28-year-old doctor was originally supposed to moderate the science program "Quarks", but after accusations of anti-Semitism, the West German Broadcasting Corporation (WDR) decided against it for the time being.

It is still being checked whether she can possibly take on editorial tasks behind the camera.

El-Hassan is criticized, among other things, because she took part in an Al-Kuds demonstration in Berlin years ago.

In the past, anti-Semitic slogans have been shouted at these rallies and symbols of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah movement have been shown.

El-Hassan apologized for participating in the demonstration.

She is also accused of having liked posts that are critical of Israel on the Internet.

In one case, terrorists broke out of an Israeli maximum security prison.

In her guest post, El-Hassan further criticizes the German public demanding her to deny her Palestinian identity.

For them, however, the following applies: "I am a Palestinian and my family history is forever closely linked to the history of the State of Israel."

The "Bild" newspaper, which had brought the allegations against them to the public, accuses El-Hassan of wanting to dismantle them.

"Of course, the Bild newspaper is also allowed to research the past of a public figure and ask questions," she wrote.

"But there is a line between critical journalistic work and a targeted campaign to dismantle a person."

El-Hassan calls anti-Semitism accusation a "means to an end"

The campaign against them had been prepared for a long time in right-wing forums. The aim there is to push as many people of Muslim faith as possible out of the public eye. Accusations of anti-Semitism are used specifically because they are particularly effective in making someone impossible in the long run. The right-wing extremists are of course not interested in the protection of Jewish life, rather the accusation of anti-Semitism is only a means to an end. Because: "In the country of the perpetrators - understandably - nobody wants to put themselves in a situation that could suggest that they are not vehemently involved in combating the societal problem of anti-Semitism."

She accused the WDR of wanting to pull himself out of the line of fire.

"The reaction of the WDR exemplarily shows that things are going badly with the widely vaunted culture of debate in this country," criticized El-Hassan.

Last Friday, the WDR Broadcasting Council had controversially discussed the anti-Semitism allegation against the journalist.

There was agreement that anti-Semitism should not have a place in WDR either in front of or behind the camera.

On the other hand, the question of whether El-Hassan's expressions of opinion were really anti-Semitic was assessed differently.

muk / dpa

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2021-11-02

You may like

Trends 24h

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T17:17:20.523Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.