"“I think you have to qualify or prove arguments or points if they are new or if they are debatable - but for me at least, these two facts - that the Iranians are working on the nuclear bomb and that they are aggressors for decades - are so obvious, so proven for many times, they are almost - it’s like saying America is the biggest democracy in the world.”
"“I don’t have to prove that,” he added.
"India is widely considered as the largest democracy in the world with 1.4 billion people, while Iran has always denied working on a nuclear weapon."
Indeed. Except not in the way you attempt to point out.
Middleeasteye.net is owned by Jamal Awn Jamal Bessasso, a Palestinian (self-defined, by which I mostly mean he could choose otherwise) who has Dutch citizenship and made a few million pounds working as a director of planning and HR at Al Jazeera and worked for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV, and is still Qatar-affiliated.
And if you read his sites (either this one or the other one) ... his publications are A LOT less neutral than Telegraph or Politico.
This is like Vladimir Putin pointing out the Washington Post is not neutral (in fact Putin has done so). He might even be correct, HOWEVER by virtue of the messenger the message is incredibly, overwhelmingly suspect.
"Reputational" crisis. Not the depravity of genocide and colonialism.
Also a good read - The West’s bubble of illusion about Israel - and about itself – is finally being burst - https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/west-bubble-illusion-i... - The genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in Lebanon exhausted the West’s moral legitimacy. Now Iran is slowly exhausting the West’s military primacy.
The headline seems pretty dishonest. It seems like what he actually said was along the lines of "if someone isn't aligned with our values, they might decide that working here isn't a good fit."
There's no transcript though, mostly paraphrasing from an outlet whose almost sole focus is smearing Israel, so it's hard to know what was actually said.
TRNN is another outlet with an explicit anti-Zionist stance, and they seem to be just summarizing this Jewish Insider article [1] while adding some anti-Israel spin.
Considering the extra details in the Jewish Insider article, what he said was basically "if someone rejects the Jewish peoples' right to self-determination and rejects Israel's existence, then we have a fundamental difference in values, and they might decide that working here isn't a good fit".
That's pretty far from the MEE's dishonest summary of "support Israel or resign", or TRNN's dishonest summary of "demands allegiance to Israel". One can criticize a government without rejecting the country's very existence. Israelis themselves do it all the time.
Yes, that is a better article. It spells out Döpfner's position a lot better than the others. The important bit of information is that this is all in response to Politico journalists issuing a joint letter saying that Döpfner using the platform to further his own political agenda will weaken their reputation as an impartial news source.
the rhetorical arrogance is comical;
"“I think you have to qualify or prove arguments or points if they are new or if they are debatable - but for me at least, these two facts - that the Iranians are working on the nuclear bomb and that they are aggressors for decades - are so obvious, so proven for many times, they are almost - it’s like saying America is the biggest democracy in the world.”
"“I don’t have to prove that,” he added.
"India is widely considered as the largest democracy in the world with 1.4 billion people, while Iran has always denied working on a nuclear weapon."
Not the largest, and not the most democratic either. [0]
"I don’t have to prove that"
Maybe he meant he can't prove that (because it's false)?
[0] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu
Indeed. Except not in the way you attempt to point out.
Middleeasteye.net is owned by Jamal Awn Jamal Bessasso, a Palestinian (self-defined, by which I mostly mean he could choose otherwise) who has Dutch citizenship and made a few million pounds working as a director of planning and HR at Al Jazeera and worked for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV, and is still Qatar-affiliated.
And if you read his sites (either this one or the other one) ... his publications are A LOT less neutral than Telegraph or Politico.
This is like Vladimir Putin pointing out the Washington Post is not neutral (in fact Putin has done so). He might even be correct, HOWEVER by virtue of the messenger the message is incredibly, overwhelmingly suspect.
Israel to pour $730m into propaganda arm amid reputational crisis - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-pour-730m-propagan...
"Reputational" crisis. Not the depravity of genocide and colonialism.
Also a good read - The West’s bubble of illusion about Israel - and about itself – is finally being burst - https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/west-bubble-illusion-i... - The genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in Lebanon exhausted the West’s moral legitimacy. Now Iran is slowly exhausting the West’s military primacy.
The headline seems pretty dishonest. It seems like what he actually said was along the lines of "if someone isn't aligned with our values, they might decide that working here isn't a good fit."
There's no transcript though, mostly paraphrasing from an outlet whose almost sole focus is smearing Israel, so it's hard to know what was actually said.
Smearing Israel is not needed, they do that to themself.
Murdering, raping and torturing thousands of babies, children, women, man and journalists.
Here you go: https://therealnews.com/politico-demands-allegiance-to-israe...
TRNN is another outlet with an explicit anti-Zionist stance, and they seem to be just summarizing this Jewish Insider article [1] while adding some anti-Israel spin.
Considering the extra details in the Jewish Insider article, what he said was basically "if someone rejects the Jewish peoples' right to self-determination and rejects Israel's existence, then we have a fundamental difference in values, and they might decide that working here isn't a good fit".
That's pretty far from the MEE's dishonest summary of "support Israel or resign", or TRNN's dishonest summary of "demands allegiance to Israel". One can criticize a government without rejecting the country's very existence. Israelis themselves do it all the time.
[1] https://jewishinsider.com/2026/04/politicos-owner-axel-sprin...
Yes, that is a better article. It spells out Döpfner's position a lot better than the others. The important bit of information is that this is all in response to Politico journalists issuing a joint letter saying that Döpfner using the platform to further his own political agenda will weaken their reputation as an impartial news source.
Instead, he pushed back hard.
So basically: Get on board or get out.
> along the lines of "if someone isn't aligned with our values, they might decide that working here isn't a good fit."
constructive dismissal