Central Council of Jews welcomes WDR’s decision in the El-Hassan case

„The doubts about the fundamental positions of Ms El-Hassan were evidently justified.”

Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, has welcomed the decision of the West German Broadcasting Corporation (WDR) in the controversy surrounding the employment of journalist Nemi El-Hassan. „We welcome the fact that the WDR has carefully examined the Nemi El-Hassan case and has now made a clear decision.”

One of Germany’s leading broadcasters, WDR, had had an ongoing examination in the case of employing Nemi El-Hassan for its science program „Quarks” due to the journalist’s record of anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic comments and participation in the extreme annual „Quds Day” protests in Berlin. The company confirmed its decision on Tuesday that it won’t proceed with the employment of El-Hassan. They cited issues around trust as the reason. „There is no longer any trust for future cooperation,” said the WDR.

In an article for the Berliner Zeitung newspaper titled „I’m a Palestinian, deal with it,” El-Hassan argued that WDR had treated her as „the supposedly antisemitic and Islamist moderator with Palestinian roots, who allegedly lacks the ability to think scientifically because she is Muslim.”

The piece also asserts that German guilt over the Holocaust was also a factor. „The last few weeks have shown that in the land of the perpetrators, I should be declared an antisemite by birth,” she wrote.

Although Schuster welcomed the decision of WDR, he also added that „Any general suspicion of Muslims is completely unacceptable.”