‘All the questions were about Israel’: Inside Deutsche Welle’s purge of Arab journalists

When Deutsche Welle fired seven Arab journalists over accusations of antisemitism, many in Germany took its decision at face value. But a closer look shows DW's investigation was riddled with political motives.

By Hebh Jamal and Lena Obermaier May 5, 2022

I am not collateral damage. I am a Palestinian Jordanian female journalist who went the hard way to improve her life and career here in Germany… [My comments were] ripped out of context… [No one was] interested in hearing my side of the story… It feels like I am still waking up to a reality where non[e] of the ethics I believed in or the values that I worked for and defended [were] applied to my case.

Farah Maraqa, who wrote these words in a series of blog posts, is one of five Arab journalists who, in December 2021, were suspended by the international German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW). A few weeks earlier, Maraqa — along with Maram Salama from Palestine, Basil al-Aridi and Dawood Ibrahim from Lebanon, and Murhaf Mahmoud from Syria — had been accused of antisemitism in a Nov. 30 article by Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany’s largest daily newspapers, based on a series of social media posts.

All the Questions Were Abou... by Thavam Ratna