German Court dismisses Palestinian Journalist in Gaza Anas Fteiha’s Case against Newspaper BILD for not being able to provide a hand-signed document and summonable address
22. October, Berlin – The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) with partner lawyer Ingrid Yeboah has taken legal action against the German media company Axel Springer, after their tabloid BILD had published an article smearing the Palestinian Journalist in Gaza Anas Fteiha in an article in August 2025, thereby implying he was a “legitimate target” for the Israeli army and putting him and his family’s life in grave danger. We aimed to remove the article published on BILD with the title “This Gaza photographer stages Hamas propaganda” on behalf of Fteiha through an action for injunction and the resulting civil lawsuit.
As reported by The Intercept: The filing against a European news organization is a first-of-its-kind legal strategy for a journalist working in Palestine. “I want to prove the truth cannot be erased by false allegations,” Fteiha told The Intercept.
With its ruling on 22nd October the District Court (Landgericht) of Frankfurt am Main has now rejected the case arguing that required formalities haven’t been met. Specifically, the court cynically required an original hand-signed power of attorney document and a summonable address from the journalist living under the circumstances of widespread destruction and total blockade imposed on Palestinians in Gaza by Israel’s genocidal onslaught. Alternatively, we provided videos of Fteiha signing the document and an electronic signature to the court as well as a guarantee that the ELSC will cover all financial obligations for the legal proceedings.
At the hearing on 9th October we argued that the smear published by BILD violates Anas Fteiha’s personal rights as it includes false factual assertions and inadmissible expressions of suspicion. In its ruling, the court did not dismiss any of our arguments.
Instead, the court doubted and refused to accept the power of attorney for Fteiha’s legal representatives. For example, the court objected to Fteiha’s signature varying in form on different legal documents. The ruling includes sentences such as: “The second signature has a low-set line that transitions into a flourish. The first signature has a higher, straight line.”
ELSC Spokesperson Karim Bohnhoff comments: “This ruling is a grotesque denial of justice. The court refused to even acknowledge Anas Fteiha as a legal subject entitled to claim personal rights at a German civil court. This is happening while Israel is deliberately targeting and killing Palestinian journalists and their families in Gaza and while German media outlets are inciting these crimes by marking potential targets.”
“Journalism” in Germany – Marking targets for Genocidal violence
The photographer’s tireless effort to document the Genocide in Gaza was first mentioned and raised attention to a wider German public in bitter suspicion. The Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper published an article under the headline “How Authentic Are the Photos from Gaza?” and a picture of Fteiha photographing starving Palestinians in Gaza along with sentences like: “There are indeed photos of people holding empty pots in Gaza that show that they aren’t standing in front of a food distribution site, but only in front of a photographer.” An Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) investigation by DER SPIEGEL found that Fteiha’s Photo in question was indeed capturing a field kitchen serving food to starved Palestinians in Gaza.
The SZ article apparently initiated BILD to write and publish their smear article which was quickly amplified by the Israeli embassy to Germany, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, several large Israeli media outlets and even the Israeli president. Quoting the BILD article, top Israeli officials and media outlets denied the starvation they inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza and singled out Anas Fteiha.
Just a few days after their article about Anas Fteiha was published, BILD published articles justifying the murder of four AlJazeera journalists in Gaza among them Anas al-Sharif, claiming they were only “camouflaging as journalists”. It should therefore be assumed that BILD deliberately and intentionally made Anas Fteiha a target for Israel’s systematic mass murder of journalists and their families. At least 248 journalists have now been killed in Gaza, more than in any other war in modern times.
The complicity of German media in Genocide and anti-Palestinian Repression
While the article we challenged in court is particularly shocking, BILD and other outlets belonging to the media company Axel Springer SE are known for anti-Palestinian incitement and manufacturing consent for the Genocide, while profiting from the expulsion of Palestinians and Israel’s settlements. Furthermore, this is but one facet of a widespread anti-Palestinian reporting in German media, which is not limited to these outlets. The ELSC database on anti-Palestinian repression in Germany list over 80 incidents of anti-Palestinian repression enacted by German media through smearing and censoring critical voices, making it the third largest perpetrator of anti-Palestinian repression in Germany according to our data.
The independent monitor group de:presse archives and lists numerous examples of journalistic malpractice and anti-Palestinian incitement published in even the most prestigious German media outlets. The group also encourages and assists in taking collective action to hold German media accountable.
We demand accountability!
By defending Anas Fteiha’s personal rights and reputation against smears in German media at German courts we aim to raise attention to German media’s complicity in the Genocide committed against Palestinians and the anti-Palestinian repression in Europe.
