Al Jazeera suspends journalists over Holocaust denial video suggesting Zionists blew it ‘out of proportion’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Al Jazeera Media Network suspended two journalists for a video that downplays the Holocaust.
Al Jazeera Media Network suspended two journalists on Saturday over a video that claimed the Zionist movement benefited from the Holocaust and Jewish people “exaggerated” the outcome.
The video said “the narrative that six million Jews were killed by the Nazi movement was adopted” by Zionists but “Jews were not the only victims” and actually benefited in the long run.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“The victims of the Nazis, who were following Hitler’s orders, exceeded 20 million people. The Jews were part of them. So why is there a focus only on them? The Jewish groups had financial resources, media institutions, research centers and academic voices that managed to put a special spotlight on Jewish victims of the Nazis. Nevertheless, the number of the victims of the Holocaust remains one of the most prominent historical debates to this day,” the video’s narrator said, according to TheWrap media editor Jon Levine.
The now-deleted video was published to the Qatar-based company’s AJ+, a digital Arabic news organization. Levine, crediting the Washington D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute, tweeted footage of the original.
“People are divided between those who deny the annihilation, others who think that the outcome was exaggerated, and others yet who accuse the Zionist movement of blowing it out of proportion in the service of the plan to establish what would later be known as the ‘State of Israel,’” the video continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Al Jazeera digital executive director Yaser Bishr said the network "completely disowns the offensive content in question" and informed staffers of new mandatory bias and sensitivity training.
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"Al Jazeera continues to adhere to the journalistic values of honesty, courage, fairness, balance, independence, credibility and diversity. In addition, the network recognizes the diversity in societies with all races, cultures, beliefs and their values and intrinsic individualities," the network said in the statement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}AJ+ managing director Dima Khatib said the video was produced without proper oversight and promised all content will go through appropriate protocols going forward, according to Al Jazeera’s website.
Al Jazeera did not immediately respond when asked which staffers made the video and how long the suspension would last.
Israeli officials have long accused Al Jazeera of bias and inciting violence against the Jewish state. Americans became familiar with Al Jazeera following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when its Arabic logo became synonymous with video Usama bin Laden’s video messages.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.