German broadcaster loses case against Palestinian journalist over ‘anti Semitism’ allegations

COLOGNE, Germany (AA) – A labor court in Germany’s Bonn has ruled against Deutsche Welle (DW) on the dismissal of Palestinian journalist Maram Salim over ‘anti Semitism’ allegations.

The Bonn Labor Court on July 6 ruled that her termination of employment at Deutsche Welle was invalid and unlawful as her Facebook posts were not anti-Semitic.

Salim said she has been an advocate of women’s rights, human rights, animal rights, and that Deutsche Welle’s accusations had shocked her.

She called on the German broadcaster to publicly apologize and retract its accusations.

Deutsche Welle has the right to appeal the decision within a month but it has to pay court costs of €36,000 ($36,133).

In early February, Deutsche Welle announced that it had fired five journalists from its Arabic service after a two-month investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism.

The organization has long been criticized for biased coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, the 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 combating what it considers ‘anti-Semitism’, and actively defending Israel’s right to exist.