Image captionThe
video was published by Al Jazeera's
online video network AJ+
Al Jazeera has suspended two journalists over a video
they produced that denied the facts of the Holocaust.
The Qatari state-funded broadcaster had published the
video on its online AJ+ video service in Arabic.
During World War Two, six million Jewish people were
systematically killed by the Nazis.
Al Jazeera's video said this number had been exaggerated
and "adopted by the Zionist movement", and that Israel is
the "biggest winner" from the genocide.
Its narrator also asked, "why is there a focus only on
them?" - referring to the Jewish victims - before claiming
that the community uses "financial resources [and] media
institutions" to "put a special spotlight" on Jewish
suffering.
How did people react to the video?
The video was published on the AJ+ Twitter and Facebook
pages on Friday evening local time, with a caption asking:
"What is the truth of the Holocaust and how did the Zionist
movement benefit from it?"
It was posted in Arabic, but drew strong criticism after
the US-based non-profit Middle East Media Research Institute
(Memri) tweeted an English translation.
Questioning the number of Jewish victims killed,
suggesting that Jewish people manipulate the media, and
claiming that Jewish people or the State of Israel benefit
from the Holocaust have been condemned as forms of
anti-Semitism.
Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for Israel's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, said the video was "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,"
he said. "Lies and evil propagated by the ideological
descendants of 'Der Stürmer'."
Der Stürmer was an anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda
publication.
Medhi Hasan, one of the broadcaster's most prominent
journalists, said he was "glad to see Al Jazeera bosses
taking disciplinary action" over the "ridiculously offensive
and dumb video".
And some people noted the difference between the content
published on Al Jazeera's Arabic pages, and its English
language journalism.
What has Al Jazeera said?
In a statement released on Sunday evening, Al Jazeera
said it had "swiftly deleted" the video, stating that it had
"violated the editorial standards of the network".
"Al Jazeera stated today, that it has taken disciplinary
action and suspended two of its journalists over video
content produced on the Holocaust," it said.
The statement added that 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."
Dr Yaser Bishr, executive director of the broadcaster's
digital division, also said that he had called for
"mandatory bias training and awareness programme".
AJ+ channels' managing director Dima Khatib added that
the video "was produced without the due oversight".
Al Jazeera Arabic vs Al Jazeera English: A stark
contrast
Analysis by Amira Fathalla, BBC Monitoring
Al Jazeera English is known to audiences worldwide for
its varied coverage, which often sheds light on
underreported stories.
But its reporting - which only occasionally hints at the
affiliations of its Qatari owners - comes in stark contrast
to Al Jazeera Arabic.
AJA's obvious stance on key regional crises and rivalries
heavily colours its output.
Its friendly coverage of Islamist groups - particularly
favouring those aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood - came
to the fore particularly with the 2011 uprisings in the
region.
Some of its correspondents have adopted a still harder
line. In 2015, prominent anchor Ahmed Mansour offered a
sympathetic account of the activities of al-Qaeda's Syria
affiliate in a lengthy interview with its leader.
Since a major rift between Gulf states erupted in 2017,
AJA's coverage has also shifted closer to Iran.
Al Jazeera suspends two journalists over Holocaust report
Network takes disciplinary action
against journalists and removes video that misrepresented the
Holocaust.
Al Jazeera Media Network announced mandatory bias and sensitivity training for staff [File: Naseem Zeitoon/Reuters]
Al Jazeera Media Network has suspended two journalists over a video that downplayed and misrepresented the Holocaust.
The Qatar-based network announced the disciplinary action in a statement on Sunday.
The video, published on Al Jazeera's online Arabic news platform, AJ+, "contravened its editorial standards", said the network, which is the parent company of aljazeera.com.
The content was swiftly deleted from AJ+ web pages and social media accounts.
Yaser Bishr, executive director of Al Jazeera's digital division, said the network "completely disowns the offensive content in question" and would not tolerate such material on any of the network's platforms.
In an email to staff, he also announced a mandatory bias and sensitivity training programme.
The video report claimed the Zionist movement had misrepresented the extent of the Holocaust, and "adopted the narrative" that Nazis killed six million Jews.
Dima Khatib, managing director of AJ+, said in a statement that the video was produced without due oversight.
Announcing a review of workflows at AJ+ to ensure all content goes through proper editorial channels, Khatib also called on all AJ+ editors and journalists to comply with the network's editorial values.
"Al Jazeera continues to adhere to the journalistic values of honesty, courage, fairness, balance, independence, credibility and diversity," the network said in the statement.
"In addition, the network recognises the diversity in societies with all races, cultures, beliefs and their values and intrinsic individualities."
It also said it has not shied away from acknowledging and rectifying mistakes in its editorial content since its inception.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera News
Commentary by Radio Islam:
This is the "Brave New World" of the Jews:
Arabs self-censoring their own news outlets to suit
the Jews' propaganda efforts, in this case the so-called
"holocaust" story,
the myth on
which Israel is founded.
Screenshot of the Al Jazeera
AJ+ video that caused all the stir-up and led to "disciplinary
action" and suspension of two Arab journalists.
Here some more information on the Zionist propaganda tool MEMRI,
that BBC in a clearly deceivious manner simply describes as the
"US-based non-profit Middle East Media Research Institute
(Memri)":
Archive on MEMRI
