After a year-long legal battle, the Berlin Labor Court announced that Deutsche Welle (DW) media corporation's decision to dismiss journalist Zahi Allawi after accusing him of publishing "anti-Israel" statements on social media under the pretext of anti-Semitism.
The Berlin Court ruled that the Palestinian journalist Zahi Allawi had been dismissed from his job, and the Deutsche Welle Media Foundation (DW) obliged him to return to his work and compensate him.
Deutsche Welle had taken measures to dismiss Palestinian and Arab journalists under the pretext of publishing “anti-Israel” statements on social media and under the pretext of anti-Semitism.
The decision of the Berlin Labor Court stated that the dismissal of Allawi by the German media organization Deutsche Welle (DW), who hails from the town of Sebastia in Nablus Governorate, was not legally justified.
The court upheld the lawsuit for protection from unfair dismissal and ordered DW to continue employing journalist Allawi.
Following the court's decision, journalist Zahi Allawi tweeted: "After waiting more than a year, the Berlin Labor Court ruled that the decision to expel me from DW in February 2022 was illegal and demands that I return to my workplace immediately."
In February 2022, Deutsche Welle announced the dismissal of journalists Maram Salem, Basil Al-Aridi, Morhaf Mahmoud, Farah Maraqa, Zahi Allawi, and Yasser Abu Muailiq, and the termination of the contract with Dawood Ibrahim on charges of expressing “anti-Semitic opinions” in old tweets and articles criticizing Israel.
In July of last year, the Palestinian journalist, Maram Salem, announced that the labor court in the German city of Bonn “did not find anti-Semitism” in her Facebook posts, and said that the decision to dismiss her from the Deutsche Welle network was “illegal.”