"Axel Springer Fires Lebanese Employee Who Questioned Pro-Israel Stance"

THE GERMAN MEDIA giant Axel Springer, which has famously enshrined support for Israel in its mission statement, fired an employee who strayed from its staunchly pro-Israel editorial line, according to an interview with the employee and supporting internal documents. 

Kasem Raad, a 20-year-old apprentice at the company, was summarily fired last week after questioning the company’s Israel policy through internal channels and posting a video online disputing parts of the Israeli military’s narrative of the brutal Hamas attack on October 7...

Raad’s account of being fired is supported by a termination letter and screenshots of his posts on the company’s internal message board that were reviewed by The Intercept. The letter makes no mention of the reason for his firing, but in an interview, he said his bosses were clear about why they were letting him go. “They explicitly stated that my questioning and video were the reasons for their decision, which had no connection to my performance,” Raad said.

Adib Sisani, Axel Springer’s head of corporate communications, declined to comment on Raad’s specific claims. “As a matter of principle, we never comment on individual personnel matters,” Sisani told The Intercept. “In general, allow me to refer you to German labor law, which has a probation period at the beginning of any work contract for the duration of six months. Within this time period, both the employee as well as the employer can terminate the contract without a reason.”

Even before the start of the most recent Israeli war in Gaza, Germany has long repressed voices critical of Israel, through both governmental and corporate policy. The repression has intensified in the last few weeks: The German government banned most gatherings protesting the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, and police attacked protesters who took to the streets nonetheless. Rights groups like Amnesty International have decried the crackdown in Germany, while organizations in the United States are calling attention to the professional consequences facing Americans who speak critically of Israel’s military campaign. American CEOs, law students, and even Starbucks employees have faced repercussions, including threats of termination, public smear campaigns, and letters of dismissal from their jobs. The human rights group Euro-

Med Human Rights Monitor reviewed a slate of firings of Arab and Palestinian journalists in German state-owned media in 2021 and issued a prescient warning: “We caution German media groups … from unfairly dismissing Palestinian and Arab journalists because of smear campaigns by pro-Israeli or far-right groups. This would set a dangerous precedent that would only encourage even more discriminatory targeting of public figures of Palestinian or Arab origins or who hold views sympathetic to Palestinian rights and freedom.”...

Raad posted a video to his personal Youtube channel attempting to debunk a viral narrative that Hamas beheaded babies during its attack that even the Israel Defense Forces could not confirm. He said he heard nothing from company supervisors until two days later, October 20, when he was called into yet another meeting and received a letter informing him of his termination...