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Pro-Palestinian Arabs gather on Berlin's Sonnenallee on Sunday – police try to stop the rally
Photo: Jürgen Held / IMAGO
Malcolm Ohanwe, a journalist and TV presenter who has worked regularly for the public broadcaster, has expressed sympathy for Hamas' attack on Israel. "If the Palestinians' tongues are systematically cut off, how can they defend themselves with words?" he wrote, among other things. As a result, the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) and the broadcaster Arte have now discontinued their cooperation with Ohanwe.
Arte distanced itself from the "inhuman statements that have nothing to do with our understanding of journalism," the broadcaster said. Incidentally, the journalist had also been asked to remove all Arte references from his X profile. Currently, there is still a picture with the Eiffel Tower in Paris and an Arte logo.
"There would have been plenty of reasons before"
The Bayerischer Rundfunk, on the other hand, said that the statements had "nothing to do with our understanding of journalism". And: "Malcolm Ohanwe works freelance. The BR no longer commissions him." Ohanwe had also written for SPIEGEL several years ago.
The editor-in-chief of the »Jüdische Allgemeine«, Philipp Peymann Engel, criticized Ohanwe. Regarding the separation of the stations from the journalist, which has since been completed, he wrote, "There would have been plenty of reasons before, but when, if not now?!". In 2021, the newspaper had already rated Ohanwe's statements as "decidedly hostile to Israel."
Several years ago, Ohanwe had already described Israeli controls as "dehumanizing" in the ARD program "Maischberger." He had already commented on Palestinian rocket fire at the time, saying that it would draw more attention to the situation in the Palestinian territories than a press release.
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