France24 fired its Beirut correspondent Joelle Maroun, whose joke about Hitler barbecuing Jews came to light in a CAMERA investigation. The state-owned television network based in Paris reinstated three others suspended for anti-Israel comments.
“They asked Hitler ‘What did you do with the Jews?’ He said ‘Nothing extraordinary, just having barbecue with the guys,’ ” Maroun had tweeted, in Arabic, reported the London-based Jewish Chronicle. Other tweets of hers added, “Every Palestinian has to kill one Jew and the case is closed” and “Rise, Sir Hitler, rise, there are a few people that need to be burned.”
The three whom France24 brought back from suspension—Jerusalem correspondent Laila Odeh, Lebanon-based Sharif Bibi and Geneva correspondent Dina Abi-Saab—also shared antisemitic content on social media.
“I haven’t stopped hoping that Israel will be annihilated,” wrote Abi-Saab. “This Facebook status is for safekeeping.”
France24 said the three were reinstated after being warned that they broke the network’s “rules on impartiality.” The network had said earlier “as in all of France 24’s languages, the Arabic-language channel distinguishes itself every day by its commitment to the fight against antisemitism,” per The Jewish Chronicle.
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