The WDR sets the planned for November start of Nemi El-Hassan as the presenter of the science program Quarks for the time being after allegations of Islamism. The broadcaster announced on Tuesday evening. Shortly after El-Hassan’s appointment to Quarks-Moderator had the image on Monday reported on her participation in an anti-Israel demonstration in 2014. Thereupon there were demands to the WDR to withdraw the moderation again. “If moderators, police officers, teachers had been at a right-wing extremist demonstration, that would rightly have consequences,” For example, the deputy CDU federal chairman and agriculture minister Julia Klöckner wrote on Twitter.
“The allegations against her weigh heavily. But it is also difficult to deny a young journalist a professional development,” said the broadcaster. El-Hassan has now clearly distanced himself from the events, which is why a “careful examination” is required. Until a result, however, she will not moderate the well-known knowledge format on Thursday evening.
At the beginning of the week it became known that the now 27-year-old took part in the al-Quds march in Berlin seven years ago – an event that, according to the protection of the constitution, is organized by the Islamist Hezbollah and is repeatedly conspicuous for its extreme anti-Semitism. In 2014, the year they took part, there were riots, anti-Semitic remarks and shouts of “Sieg Heil”. When asked by SZ, the journalist called the demo a “mistake”. She was 19 years old at the time and only dealt with the background later – and then no longer took part. “The person I am today has nothing to do with the person I was back then,” she said. You have never intentionally spread anti-Semitism. In her work as a journalist, she campaigns for a society “that defends itself against racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of misanthropy”. She emphasizes that she was awarded the Civis Online Media Prize in 2018 for research into the rhetorical patterns of neo-Nazis. “It is therefore very difficult to watch when someone evaluates me without taking into account my work over the past few years.”
She was also noticed once in a video from the Federal Agency for Civic Education
A video made by the Federal Agency for Civic Education in 2015 in which El-Hassan speaks about the meaning of the word “jihad” is also criticized. In it the young woman says that the term has “degenerated into a symbol of misinterpretation”. “Jihad is a vision for me.” the image accused El-Hassan in her report of having “relativized” Islamist violence. The journalist denies that. Excerpts from the film have been taken out of context.
Nevertheless, a debate began about whether the WDR can hold on to its presenter. The media policy spokeswoman for the CDU, Elisabeth Motschmann, described participating in the demo on Twitter as an “absolute no-go”. The Berlin association “Werteinitiative. Jewish-German Positions” called on the broadcaster to fully investigate the matter. “An employee in a prominent position who has positioned herself in this way is unsustainable for the largest of the public broadcasters in our democratic state.” On Tuesday, the association warned against using the case “as a cheap occasion for incitement to hatred against Muslims”.
The WDR declares that it does not tolerate any anti-Semitism and that it strongly condemns the al-Quds marches and the positions represented there.