Journalists of French state-owned network suspended for Hitler, Hamas praise

On the heels of the exposé of antisemitic social media posts by four journalists working for France 24, the French state-owned news network has suspended the journalists and is currently investigating their social media pages.

The France 24 news site reported online that "after the publication of an article on the CAMERA website [Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America], and taken up by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, implicating a journalist and three Arabic-language correspondents of France 24 regarding certain comments they allegedly posted on their personal pages on social networks, the channel's management has immediately opened an audit on these alleged posts, as it communicated internally on March 10."

CAMERA’s exposé, which can be read here in full, demonstrates that the four journalists failed to live up to France 24’s charter of ethics. In numerous social media posts, the journalists can be seen praising Hitler, minimizing the Holocaust, and glorifying Hamas-affiliated terrorists who murdered and maimed scores of Jewish civilians.

"The four journalists concerned were suspended from their jobs pending the results of the audit," France 24 reported, adding that "the code of ethics of France Médias Monde [France 24, RFI, MCD] stipulates that its journalists, when publishing on blogs, forums, social networks and any space dedicated to the public exchange of information, must ensure 'respect for professional and ethical rules (...) and not violate the values of ethics, independence, and impartiality of the company (...).'"

France 24's Arabic service has highly problematic terminology and content

CAMERA has recently documented highly problematic terminology and content in France 24’s Arabic service, including factual errors which the Arabic subsidiary persistently refused to correct. "Our new investigation of the social media accounts of some of the journalists responsible for the egregiously flawed news content reveal outright hatred and deep ignorance, raising serious concerns about the journalists who draw their salaries from French taxpayers," the CAMERA site explained. "Among these taxpayers are hundreds of thousands of French Jews, arguably the largest Jewish community in western Europe and one of the biggest in the world," CAMERA said.

A Twitter account of a journalist working for France 24 in Arabic tweeted an antisemitic tweet: “They asked Hitler ‘what did you do with the Jews?’ He said ‘nothing extraordinary, [just having] barbecue with the guys.” 

Lebanese journalist Joelle Maroun, who posted the Hitler barbeque “quip,” has been serving as France 24’s regular Beirut correspondent since August 2021. Had her employers bothered to review her extensive social media record before hiring, they would have found numerous tweets expressing strong admiration for Adolf Hitler, support for the murder of innocent Jewish civilians and other displays of vile speech.

A spokesperson on behalf of the public French channel said that "as in all of France 24's languages, the Arabic-language channel distinguishes itself every day by its commitment to the fight against antisemitism, racism and discrimination."

“Professional journalists are expected to hold up basic standards of objectivity, which obviously includes not cheerleading for Hitler and Hamas-inspired terrorism,” said Andrea Levin, CAMERA executive director. “We commend France 24 for promptly investigating this serious situation, and we hope that the news outlet cuts ties with these apologists for Nazism and terrorism.”

The Hamas press office and the Palestinian People’s Party have issued statements condemning the network’s response.