Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor expressed deep concern over the recent alarming increase in the targeting, singling out and smearing of Arab and Palestinian journalists in German media.
Ever since the German Parliament passed a resolution describing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel as anti-Semitic, the country has seen growing campaigns to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism and to delegitimize criticism of Israeli violations against Palestinians, Euro-Med Rights Monitor said in a statement.
This not only poses a serious risk to freedom of speech and expression. But, it has also proven dangerous in terms of weaponizing accusations of anti-Semitism against public figures from minority backgrounds, the statement reads.
The press release came after the German public state-owned international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, announced suspending some DW Arabic Service employees as well as freelancers abroad, pending an external investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism.
Shortly before this announcement, Nemi El-Hassan, a German journalist with Palestinian roots, had her scheduled science show “Quarks” cancelled by the German public-broadcasting institution, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, over similar allegations of expressing anti-Israel sentiments.
This entails smear campaigns that either rely on guilt by association; selectively spotlighting years-old writings of targeted journalists that are unrepresentative of their views today, the rights group concluded.
