In the broadcasting council of the WDR: Vigorous debate about Nemi El

The Broadcasting Council of the West German Broadcasting Corporation discussed the anti-Semitism allegation against the journalist Nemi El-Hassan for the second time on Friday.

The 28-year-old was originally supposed to moderate the science program “Quarks”, but after the allegations became known and examined, the broadcaster decided against it for the time being.

"It is a difficult, difficult consideration," repeated the artistic director Tom Buhrow on Friday.

In the first discussion at the end of September, numerous members of the Broadcasting Council spoke up and, for the most part, spoke out against El-Hassan's employment with WDR in whatever form.

This time the opinions expressed were more divergent.

There was still agreement that anti-Semitism should not have a place in WDR either in front of or behind the camera.

However, the question of whether the expressions of opinion of the Palestinian journalist should be classified as anti-Semitic was rated differently.

Jürgen Bremer from the German Initiative for the Middle East stated that he had interviewed the former Israeli ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor, and the historian and anti-Semitism researcher Moshe Zimmermann on the subject. “As a result, you come to the conclusion: You really have to pay attention to the context in which these posts were made by Ms. El-Hassan,” said Bremer. The posts that were held up to her were also shared by Jewish Israelis.

Isabella Farkas, who sits on the Broadcasting Council for the Jewish communities, expressed a completely different opinion. She pointed out that El-Hassan had, among other things, liked a post about the breakout of convicted terrorists from an Israeli prison. "I was in Israel at the time, the country was in a state of shock," she said. With a view to El-Hassan, she said: "People with such an attitude may not have a place in any format of public broadcasting, let alone be the face of WDR." I have no powers to deal with personnel matters. "We have nothing to decide here," he stated. He assumes, however, that Artistic Director Buhrow will continue to inform the supervisory body.

Nemi El-Hassan is criticized, among other things, for taking part in the Al-Quds demonstration in Berlin years ago.

At the anti-Semitic rally there were riots and outbursts of hatred against Jews.

Nemi El-Hassan has now distanced himself from the demonstration.

However, it was also known that she visited the “Blue Mosque” in Hamburg, which is under the influence of the Iranian regime, and had positive connotations for the escape of prisoners from an Israeli prison who are accused of terrorist attacks and murder.