Ramallah /PNN/

“MADA” Center expresses its deep concern and condemnation of the German media network “Deutsche Welle” dismissal of five Palestinians and Arab journalists on charges of anti-Semitism:

This term (anti- Semitism) has expanded a lot in the past few years, to include criticism of Israel and Zionism, which poses a threat to freedom of expression in all over the world, and a wide entrance to the dismissal of journalists from their work.

Palestinian journalists have been suffering from widespread attacks by the Israeli occupation forces and authorities, with the aim of obscuring the truth about their daily crimes and human rights violations in the (opt) for decades, this prompted Amnesty International to describe Israeli practices as apartheid, which in turn was not spared the accusation of anti-Semitism, it was not surprising that USA and Germany sided with Israel and criticized the report, which means encouraging it to continue its violations, including attacks on Palestinian journalists and media, and to continue selling the Pegasus program to spy on journalists and activists.

What makes us astonish and regret this unjust decision is that Deutsche Villa has made an annual tradition to award (five journalists) every year the title of Press Freedom Champion, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, including “MADA” Center General Manager Mr. Mousa Remawi who gave this title on May,3rd,2018

And we ask: Is the dismissal of (the 5 journalists) consistent with the freedom of expression that Deutsche Welle celebrates every year?

We demand the formation of an international investigation committee in the dismissal of the 5 journalists, because the dismissal was for political reasons and not for their violation of international freedom of expression standards, or professional standards or ethics.

We also call on the media around the world not to adopt the expanded concept of the term anti-Semitism because criticism of Israel and Zionism is not considered in any way anti-Semitic.