Israeli ambassador urges Berlin to cancel pro-Hamas conference
The ambassador said, "This will not be a meeting to build bridges of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but a meeting to preserve intransigence and hostility."
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALAMBASSADOR JEREMY ISSACHAROFF(photo credit: COURTESY FOREIGN MINISTRY)
ATHENS - Jeremy Issacharoff, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, on Thursday called for the Berlin state government to pull the plug on a conference featuring a pro-Hamas group on the weekend.Issacharoff told the Bild paper: "I urge the authorities to prevent this event from happening."The event on Saturday is organized by the Palestinian Return Center (PRC) and the Palestinian Community of Germany (PGD). A 2016 German intelligence report said the PGD is supported mainly by Hamas members. The US and the EU designated Hamas a terrorist organization.The ambassador said: "This will not be a meeting to build bridges of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but a meeting to preserve intransigence and hostility."According to Berlin’s intelligence agency, there are 70 active Hamas members in the capital.A spokesman for Berlin’s police department told Bild that “we have so far no indication of a non-peaceful course.”Berlin’s mayor Michael Müller has long been plagued by accusations that he is soft on terrorism as well as combating antisemitism in the capital.Müller hosted his Tehran counterpart, Pirouz Hanachi in September. Hanach had participated in a rally calling for the destruction of Israel.