France 24 sacks Lebanese journalist Joëlle Marou, gives warning to three including Laila Odeh over 'antisemitism' accusations

France 24 has sacked Lebanese journalist Joëlle Marou following antisemitism allegations and issued warnings to three others, including Palestinian journalist Laila Odeh, the network said in a statement on Wednesday.

The French state network announced on Sunday that it had suspended the four journalists pending investigations after complaints by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a pro-Israeli American media monitor. 

CAMERA reported that Marou had made jokes about the Holocaust and tweeted in favour of Hitler’s leadership.

"Following the audit that authenticated the posts, FRANCE 24 notified the production company which employs Joëlle Maroun in Lebanon that the channel is ending all collaboration with this journalist because of the intolerant messages posted on her personal accounts," France 24 said.

"France 24 will also file a complaint against her for the damage done to the channel’s reputation and to the professionalism of its newsroom."

Maroun served as France 24's regular Beirut correspondent since August 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The French-owned network added that the other three journalists accused of "antisemitism" by CAMERA, including Odeh and Lebanese Journalists Dina Abi-Saab and Sharif Bibi would continue to be employed.

However, they network said that some of their posts "appear to be incompatible with the standards of impartiality set out in France 24’s code of ethics", and that management has issued them with a reminder to "respect" the guidelines.

CAMERA's accusations against Odeh were considerably different in nature to those of Maroun, despite them being condemned in the same article.

The pro-Israel group accused Odeh of posting anti-Israel content online, claiming that she supported armed resistance against Israel and called Palestinians who carried out bombing attacks in Israel "martyrs".

However, activists and media professionals slammed the accusations against Odeh. Prominent Al-Jazeera journalist Ghada Oueiss said that "accusations of antisemitism are being weaponised to suppress any support for Palestinian victims".