Young Social Democrats want Germany to stop its anti-Israel votes at UN
Jusos urged Germany to "dissociate from the initiatives and alliances of antisemitic member states in the bodies and specialized agencies of the United Nations.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALParliamentary leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) Thomas Oppermann (L) chats with party fellow Martin Schulz before a party board meeting in Berlin February 17, 2014.(photo credit: REUTERS)
ATHENS – The youth organization of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) condemned in late November its leadership’s anti-Israel voting record at the UN.The Young Socialists (Jusos) organization wrote that the “disproportionate condemnation of Israel, the only democratic state in the Middle East” is a problem affecting UN bodies “that is carried out not only by states of the Middle East, but also European states who pass, or abstain from, anti-Israel resolutions.”Jusos urged Germany to “dissociate from the initiatives and alliances of antisemitic member states in the bodies and specialized agencies of the United Nations.”The resolution was titled ”Antisemitism in the United Nations.”A Jusos delegate told German daily Die Welt, “We’re giving the SPD a clear mandate to fight antisemitism in the UN and placing the issue on the agenda of (German Foreign Minister) Heiko Maas and the SPD.” A second delegate said: “It is clear to us: We have to fight off antisemitism in all its manifestations.”There are over 70,000 members of the Jusos who fall into the age group 14 to 35 years-old.Germany’s Social Democratic Foreign Minister Maas has greenlighted nearly 30 condemnations of the Jewish state at the UN since 2018. Christoph Heusgen, Germany’s ambassador to the UN, compared Israel in March with the jihadi terrorist organization Hamas.Maas and Chancellor Angela Merkel administration have rejected efforts to change Germany’s anti-Israel voting pattern at the UN. The Free Democratic Party pushed an initiative in the Bundestag in the Spring to reverse the alleged anti-Israel bias of the Merkel administration. Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, and the SPD rejected the initiative.
