The female doctor Nemi El-Hassan (28) is to host the public TV science magazine “Quarks” from October.The problem: just a few years ago, the radio journalist made herself common with Israel-haters – and played down Islamist violence.
In an educational video by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (BPB) from 2015, El-Hassan explains what she understands by the word “jihad”. The terror meaning of the word is only “a misinterpretation” by self-appointed “Islam experts” in order to “harbour prejudices”. El-Hassan said that “my jihad” means “to be kind”, “to work” and “to be patient”.
The Islamic scholar Dr. Abdel-Hakim Ourghi (53) told the newspaper BILD: “This is an absolute trivialisation. Jihad as a fight against infidels – like Jews and Christians – was already practised by the Prophet in 624 by fighting dissenters.”
But that is not all. Photos show that in 2014 El-Hassan took part in the Berlin Al-Kuds march: an anti-Semitic hate event at which kippat-bearing Jews were attacked and the destruction of Israel was called for.
The public broadcaster WDR backed the journalist when asked by BILD. The station pointed out that the BPB video was “taken out of context” and “6 years old”. The editorial staff could not “recognise any trivialisation” in the full video.
WDR did not want to comment on participation in the Islamist Al-Kuds march. El-Hassan could not be reached for comment.