German politicians part of ‘Anti-Israel International,' says expert
MPs and European parliament members signed anti-sovereignity letter
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALHenryk M. Broder(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Henryk Broder, Germany’s leading authority on contemporary antisemitism in the federal republic, wrote on Monday that scores of left-wing German politicians are anti-Israel because they signed a letter slamming Israel’s plan to exercise sovereignty over parts of the disputed West Bank territory.Broder, who has testified in the Bundestag about new forms of Jew-hatred since the Holocaust, titled his article “The anti-Israel International” on the popular journalist website “The Axis of Good.”The German Jewish author and journalist writes commentary for the Die Welt –a large broadsheet paper. Broder has a significant readership in the German-speaking world.He mocked German politicians from the Left, Social Democratic and Green parties who signed the protest letter for not directing their letter to Turkey’s occupation of North Cyprus, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and China’s occupation of Tibet.Critics have cited the European political preoccupation with the Jewish state as a form of double standard. Israel’s democracy is singled out while non-democratic nations who commit massive human rights crimes are not targeted.The German politicians from the European parliament and the Bundestag, along with other politicians, wrote in their June 23 letter: “We, parliamentarians from across Europe committed to a rules-based global order, share serious concerns about President Trump’s plan for the Israeli Palestinian conflict and the imminent prospect of Israeli annexation of West Bank territory. We are deeply worried about the precedent this would set for international relations at large.”A number of the German politicians who signed the letter promote the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment campaign against Israel or have failed to take action against BDS-animated antisemitism within their party.Social Democratic Party MP Aydan Özoguz is on the advisory board of the pro-BDS German-Palestinian Society (DPG). The DPG just called for ending the EU-Israel “Association Agreement” because of the sovereignty dispute. Özoguz, whose election district is based in the city-state of Hamburg, declined to answer Jerusalem Post queries.Daniel Killy, who is a spokesman for the Hamburg Jewish community, told the Post that in his role as a member of the executive board of the German-Israel Friendship Society, “membership in the German-Palestinian Society and a simultaneous commitment to Israel are mutually exclusive. The three members of the Bundestag, Özuguz, Nouripour and Buchholz, have to decide where they stand. And anyone who follows the German state doctrine and thus accepts the security of Israel as not subject to discussion cannot and must not be a member of an organization that glorifies terror.”He added that, “therefore, resignations of the three deputies from the DPG would only be self-evident. However, should membership hide more than ignorance and should it be an expression of a clear anti-Israel stance, these three parliamentarians are no longer acceptable to represent the German people.”
GREEN PARTY MP Clauda Roth also signed the letter. In 2019, Germany’s largest paper Bild said Roth “made antisemitism socially respectable” in Germany because she embraced Iranian regime Holocaust denier Ali Larijani. Cem Özdemir, a Green Party MP, also signed the letter. Özdemir has declined to comment about Roth’s alleged mainstreaming of Larijani, who urges the destruction of Israel.Özdemir has also remained indifferent to alleged antisemitic BDS activity from Green Party foreign policy spokesman Omid Nouripour, who is on the advisory board of the DPG. Nouripour has refused to answer Post queries about his role in the DPG, calling for sanctions against the Jewish state.Green MP Jürgen Trittin also signed the letter. Trittin praised the late antisemitic left-wing terrorist Dieter Kunzelmann in 2018, who reportedly sought to blow up the Jewish community center in Berlin in 1969. Kunzelmann trained with Palestinian terrorists.Another Green Party MP who signed the letter is Katrin Göring-Eckardt, who defended her party’s initiative to label Jewish products from the disputed territories in 2013, which is considered a BDS activity. A year before the Green party, Germany’s neo-Nazi party NPD formulated similar legislation in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Left Party MP Sahra Wagenknecht also signed the letter. Wagenknecht and fellow Left Party MP Christine Buchholz refused to participate in a 2010 standing ovation for former president Shimon Peres on Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Bundestag.Buchholz, a Left Party Bundestag deputy, is also on the advisory board of the pro-BDS DPG, and has defended the “resistance” of the terrorist entities Hamas and Hezbollah against the Jewish state.Wagenknecht’s refusal to participate in the standing ovation for Peres was praised by Germany’s NPD neo-Nazi party.Left Party politician Heike Hänsel also signed the letter. In 2014, the Simon Wiesenthal Center human rights organization included Hänsel on its top ten list of worst outbreaks of antisemitism and anti-Israeli activity. Hänsel invited BDS speakers to deliver a talk in the Bundestag.
