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German broadcaster Deutsche Welle fires 2 more Arab employees

February 15, 2022 at 8:35 pm

A picture shows a board with the logo of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) at their head office in Bonn, western Germany, on February 8, 2022 [INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images]

Two Palestinian journalists were sacked, Tuesday, from Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, for alleged anti-Semitic comments, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The dismissals come one week after the news organisation let go of five Arabic staffers.

The dismissal of Zahi Alawi and Yasser Abu Muailek came after social media posts from 2014 surfaced that were allegedly anti-Semitic, according to reports in German media.

The posts in question referred to Facebook posts by Alawi and Abu Muailek that condemned the Israeli offensive on the blockaded Gaza Strip in 2014.

“What the terrorist state of Israel is doing to the Palestinians is a repeated Holocaust,” Alawi wrote on his Facebook page in July 2014.

READ: Gaza journalists stand in support of sacked DW staff

Deutsche Welle announced last week that it fired five journalists from its Arabic service after a two-month investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism.

The organisation has long been criticised for biased coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But management at Deutsche Welle has argued that Germany bears special responsibility for the country, due to Nazi crimes committed against Jews during World War II.

Last year, DW’s editorial board sent a new reporting guide to staff, further restricting critical reporting of Israel and, according to a new statement, it is now planning to sharpen its code of conduct with more focus on anti-Semitism, Israel’s right to exist and Germany’s historical responsibility.