Al Jazeera suspends two over Holocaust denying clip
Al Jazeera announced Sunday that it has taken disciplinary action and suspended two of its journalists over a video they produced which promoted Holocaust denial.
Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS
Al Jazeera noted that the “video content and accompanying posts were swiftly deleted” from all Al Jazeera pages and accounts on social media, “as it contravened the Network’s editorial standards.”
The clip alleged that Israel is the top beneficiary from the Holocaust, and uses it as an excuse for ethnic cleansing and the extermination of the Palestinians. It also claimed that the world focused on the six million Jewish victims, out of 20 million victims of the Nazis, because of the influence of Jewish organizations.
Al Jazeera further claimed that the number of Holocaust victims is debatable, that some deny the extermination while some say it is exaggerated, and some blame the Zionist movement for playing up the Holocaust.
Close to a million people had seen it before it was taken down.
Dr. Yaser Bishr, Executive Director of Al Jazeera’s Digital Division, stated that the network “completely disowns the offensive content in question and reiterated that Al Jazeera would not tolerate such material on any of the Network’s platforms.”
In an email to the Al Jazeera staff, he also called for the mandatory bias training and awareness program.
Dima Khatib, Managing Director of Al Jazeera’s Channels, said that the video “was produced without the due oversight.” She called on all editors and journalists to “comply with the Network’s editorial values and Code of Ethics”
“Al Jazeera continues to adhere to the journalistic values of honesty, courage, fairness, balance, independence, credibility and diversity, giving no priority to commercial or political over professional consideration. In addition, the Network recognizes the diversity in societies with all races, cultures, beliefs and their values and intrinsic individualities,” it stated.
“This Holocaust denying video should not have been produced at all. Good that you deleted it,” stated Israel’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon. “Reason prevailed and an insane antisemitic Holocaust denying ‘educational video’ and meant to fuel hatred of Israel and the Jews in the Arab world, was removed.”
“This ‘explanation’ of the Holocaust is the worst kind of pernicious evil. That’s how Al Jazeera brainwashes young people in the Arab world and perpetuates hatred of Israel and the Jews. Lies and evil propagated by the ideological descendants of ‘Der Stürmer’,” he added.
Israeli officials have long accused Al-Jazeera, a pan-Arab satellite network funded by the Qatari government, of bias against the Jewish state. Member of Knesset Avigdor Liberman has likened its coverage to “Nazi Germany-style” propaganda.
TPS
