How Germany burned its ‘bridge to the Islamic world’

In March 2003, the German Foreign Office established an online platform, named Qantara, which means “bridge” in classical Arabic, in response to the 9/11 attacks in the United States and the hostility they triggered in the West against Muslims. The declared aim of the independent portal, run by German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, was to “bridge” cultural differences between the West and the Islamic world and provide a neutral platform for interreligious dialogue.

The portal, which publishes content in English, German and Arabic, operated successfully for more than 20 years, seemingly with no editorial guidance from the German government. This changed, however, when it began publishing content critical of German debates on anti-Semitism in the context of the Gaza genocide. Earlier this year, it was announced that Qantara would be restructured, and its management would be transferred from Deutsche Welle to the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen – IFA),  which is affiliated to and funded by the Federal Foreign Office.

The ministry claimed the move was “purely” structural and unrelated to the editorial direction and output of the site. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, however, contradicted this claim, suggesting in an interview that concerns about content published by Qantara, particularly content on anti-Semitism, were a factor in the decision.

Following the announcement, 35 members of Qantara’s editorial staff published an open letter addressed to Baerbock, expressing doubt that the IFA possessed the editorial capacities needed for the successful continuation of this complex project, which had been painstakingly built over many years and has proved to be a great source for those interested in the Middle East and Europe’s relationship with it. The letter had no effect, and all editorial staff resigned in protest.

On July 1, the management of Qantara, which no longer had any editorial staff members, was transferred from Deutsche Welle to IFA. IFA said the portal will remain under its editorial control until the new editor-in-chief, Jannis Hagmann, forms a new editorial board and officially begins work sometime in the coming weeks.

This transitional period at Qantara represents a unique opportunity to observe and assess the true views of the German government about the Middle East and its peoples, given that state officials are now openly editing a platform advertised as Germany’s “bridge” to the Islamic world.

Before the change in management, Qantara was respected for its objective, informative, in-depth reporting and analysis on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world, both in Germany and the region itself.

This is no longer the case. Right now, under the editorial direction of the Foreign Office-affiliated IFA, Qantara appears focused not on initiating intercultural and interreligious dialogue and discussion, but on confirming the German government’s biases and prejudices about Muslims, specifically Palestinians, through poorly researched and edited opinion articles.

Perhaps the best example of Qantara’s new editorial stance – and by extension the German government’s true views on the Middle East and its peoples – is an opinion piece, titled “Crisis Communication and the Middle East: Like and Share”, published on July 25.