[Salon] German Journalists Covering Gaza and Israel Decry Embassy's 'Atmosphere of Intimidation'

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2025-12-08/ty-article-magazine/.premium/german-reporters-covering-gaza-and-israel-decry-embassys-atmosphere-of-intimidation/0000019a-f96e-d2e4-a1ff-ffeee3120000?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_content=author-alert&utm_campaign=David+Issacharoff+&utm_term=20251208-12:18

German Journalists Covering Gaza and Israel Decry Embassy's 'Atmosphere of Intimidation' 
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8th Dec 2025

Several German correspondents in Israel have described "an atmosphere of intimidation" over their reporting on Israel and Palestine, as a campaign led by the Israeli Embassy in Berlin and its allies in Germany peaked over the past two weeks against Sophie von der Tann – the Tel Aviv-based correspondent for Germany's public broadcaster ARD.

Von der Tann, 34, described by a colleague in Tel Aviv as "the most visible face of public broadcasting in Middle East journalism in Germany," has been ARD's correspondent in Israel since 2021. She has reported extensively on the Israel-Hamas war, the plight of Israeli hostages in Gaza and the struggle of their families, as well as the humanitarian crisis in the enclave – though foreign correspondents have been barred by Israel from entering Gaza except on IDF-facilitated tours. 

She is the target of a campaign led by the Israeli embassy, which alleges that her reporting has "relativized" October 7, "downplayed" Hamas atrocities and supported the claim that Israel waged a genocide in Gaza.

German journalists and correspondents in Tel Aviv, who spoke to Haaretz on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive editorial processes and closed-door conversations, described the attacks on von der Tann as a watershed moment – noting that she is the first correspondent on the ground in Israel to be targeted by Israeli officials.

"They are trying to make an example of her," one said.

Savvy on social media and boasting nearly 100,000 Instagram followers, her audience grew rapidly during the Israel-Iran war. In July, she reposted a New York Times opinion piece by Israeli Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov titled "I'm a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It" – accompanied by the article's graphic reading "Never Again" over an image of Gaza's destruction. She came under fire from Israel's ambassador in Berlin, Ron Prosor. On X, he wrote: "If she prefers to be an activist, she should switch jobs." 

His attack was amplified by Israel-friendly media, including the weekly newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine – published by the state-funded Central Council of Jews in Germany, which finances part of the paper's budget and is known for its strongly pro-Israel stance.

The campaign escalated further in October after it was announced that von der Tann would receive the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award for TV Journalism – one of Germany's most prestigious media prizes. Prosor intensified his criticism, telling the news channel Welt that "demonization of Israel is the fastest way to a media prize" and accusing her of downplaying the atrocities of October 7.

Last month, Germany's Die Welt newspaper (part of the pro-Israel Axel Springer media conglomerate) reported on a leaked off-the-record conversation in Tel Aviv with Bavaria's antisemitism commissioner, in which von der Tann had said October 7 had a "prehistory." A source familiar with the conversation said the way it was portrayed in Die Welt was "completely distorted and shortened so it could be scandalized."

When official representatives of a state use their role, reach and influence to publicly single out and defame individual journalists, they cross a line. The apparent aim is to deter them from certain types of reporting.

At the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award ceremony in Cologne last week, a protest with Israeli flags drew dozens of supporters. In the call to protest on X, Arye Shalicar, the IDF's German-language spokesperson during the Gaza war, wrote: "Anti-Israel activism that aids and abets Jew-haters MUST NOT BE REWARDED."

Ambassador Prosor's name rarely appears alone in the conversations with Haaretz for this story. It is always followed by a mention of Shalicar, who is seen by many as Prosor's more outspoken lieutenant.

On X, Shalicar has labeled von der Tann as "the face of the new-German Jew- and Israel-hatred!" Germany's ambassador in Israel, Steffen Seibert, condemned the remark as "vile defamation." Shalicar has been known to label correspondents as antisemitic, and ARD's flagship daily broadcast, the Tagesschau, as "the press office of Hamas," despite him and Prosor being extensively interviewed on it, especially during the beginning of the war.

The IDF's wartime German-language spokesperson Arye Shalicar in 2023 Credit: Stubenviech/Wikimedia Commons
Haaretz has also learned that he tried to block specific journalists from embedding with the IDF for press tours in Gaza based on whether he "liked" their reporting.

Personal attacks and personal visits

In the days after Prosor's social media posts, the embassy's allies in Germany have also joined the campaign against von der Tann: Jüdische Allgemeine ran a column calling the prize "fundamentally wrong and absurd" and "reviving antisemitic narratives." Another piece quoted Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Munich Jewish community and former Central Council of Jews head, who argued that von der Tann is receiving the prize "not despite, but apparently also because of her criticism." Lobbyist Volker Beck, who chairs the German-Israeli Society (DIG), urged a state-level investigation and audit into her work. Axel Springer's Die Welt has amplified these claims in several articles.

The attacks on von der Tann, another correspondent in Israel told Haaretz, "became very personal, constantly attacking her and her persona, which has gone too far." While many point to misogyny against a young woman with high TV exposure that resonates with young people, another correspondent in Tel Aviv makes another point: It is the Israeli embassy's opportunity to "jump on the train" and join the course against Germany's public broadcasters in an attempt to shape their coverage on Israel. 

"They understand how easy it is because of distrust with public broadcasting in Germany," one correspondent says. This trend is both troubling and ironic, he adds, because it effectively sees Israel join far-right forces like the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) who are waging these campaigns for their own reasons.

Von der Tann's colleagues in the Middle East from German and German-language media outlets have expressed solidarity, saying in a petition the attacks have "crossed all bounds" and aim to "destroy her reputation."

We are under a lot of pressure. There is a pattern to these attacks – any new journalist who comes to Israel gets a blow at the beginning to make them careful and cautious.

A Tel Aviv-based correspondent

The letter also stated that "attempts to discredit our work have unfortunately become routine," adding that such "shitstorms are orchestrated, often amplified by bots to increase their reach." They claimed that statements by Prosor and Shalicar on X are "picked up, exaggerated and spread by interest groups and certain media outlets."

Several journalists have told Haaretz that they were asked by their outlets in Germany not to sign the petition.

Reporters Without Borders Executive Director in Germany Anja Osterhaus said that, "When official representatives of a state use their role, reach and influence to publicly single out and defame individual journalists, they cross a line." Such attempts, she added, risk their safety. "The apparent aim is to deter them from certain types of reporting."

German journalists describe "a method" that the embassy partakes in: officials post on X, namely from the ambassador or the embassy's account; the ambassador sends letters to media outlets laying accusations against them; and the ambassador or his staff visit chief editors to lay out Israel's case or, at times, complain about correspondents.

Recent letters included one penned by the ambassador against German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, obtained exclusively and published by Springer's Die Welt last week, lodging accusations of a "distorted, biased and factually incorrect image of Israel, thereby reinforcing antisemitic sentiments," which was sent to coalition parliament members. He asked members of the governing parliamentary faction to investigate DW, adding that "appropriate consequences should be considered if necessary."

Another letter, sent earlier this year by Prosor to Der Spiegel, blasted the magazine for publishing an interview with Bartov (the same Holocaust scholar whose op-ed von der Tann reposted) on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, labeling it "an obviously hateful editorial decision," alleging that Der Spiegel has repeatedly featured "a well-known choir of Israelis and antisemitic Jews consumed by self-hatred," concluding with, "shame on you!"

A 'pattern' of pressure 

When paying editors-in-chief a visit, the Israeli ambassador and his advisers are said to present examples of "misreporting" to make editors "watch their colleagues on the ground up close," one correspondent in Tel Aviv told Haaretz after his outlet received visit. "Prosor showing up is part of his job, inviting himself to talk about Israel in general, usually about Germany's responsibility towards Israel," another journalist told Haaretz.

"We are under a lot of pressure," a correspondent in Tel Aviv said. "There is a pattern to these attacks – any new journalist who comes to Israel gets a blow at the beginning to make them careful and cautious." Journalists describe self-censorship and avoiding any likes on social media posts that could be seen as critical of Israel's policy over the past two years. "In Germany, it's enough only to be suspected of being biased to be canceled," one said.

"What we report is backed by evidence and the political realities on the ground," a journalist said, when critical of Israel's policies, which have been independently scrutinized by international bodies and are backed by international law for suspected war crimes in its offensive in Gaza. But she described "an atmosphere of intimidation" being fostered by Israel and its allies in Germany, where being cast as having an anti-Israel bias to discredit someone usually "falls on very fertile ground in Germany."

Asked for comment on the issues brought up in this article, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that "The Embassy of Israel in Berlin, like all diplomatic missions, pushes back against biased and one-sided coverage of Israel, and will continue to call out any case in which a journalist departs from the facts and resorts to demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel."

It added: "That is the case of Sophie von der Tann, who has repeatedly failed to maintain a clear distinction between reporting and personal opinion. Journalists are not immune to scrutiny, nor should they be, in any credible media environment."

The Foreign Ministry declined to answer Haaretz's questions on whether it supports or condemns the messaging of Shalicar and whether he is currently employed by the Israeli government or the IDF. It also declined to comment on visits the ambassador and his representatives have made to German media headquarters, including whether they took place and what their purpose was. It further declined to say whether it is the embassy's mandate to influence journalists outside Germany and inside Israel.

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