Pro-Iranian regime German MP who agitates for BDS urged to be banned
"Niels Annen acts as a door opener for the Iranian mullahs" and shows "hostilities against Israel.”
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALNiels Annen(photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
The German-Israel Friendship Society in the city of Hamburg issued a highly unusual statement to the Social Democratic Party, expressing the pressing need not to allow the nomination of MP Niels Annen because of his opposition to the security of the Jewish state and his zealous pro-Iranian regime activities.Annen, who serves as an MP in the Bundestag and as a deputy foreign minister, has defended his role in celebrating the Islamic Revolution of the Iranian regime at Tehran’s embassy in 2019.“We know that this is an unusual step for our ociety, but we see the need to take a clear position at this point in the interests of international understanding between Germany and Israel,” wrote the pro-Israel group in a letter to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from Annen’s election district in Eimsbüttel, a borough of Hamburg.The nomination process to elect Annen is slated to take place this coming week.“While many SPD politicians take a clear stance towards Iran and its human rights violations, Niels Annen acts as a door opener for the Iranian mullahs. This is all the more strange” as Reinhold Robbe, a former MP for the Social Democrats, was spied on by the Iranian Secret Service, and an attack on him was probably thwarted due to intelligence work, wrote the society.The pro-Israel organization added that “Annen recently took part in the anniversary celebration in the Iranian embassy [for] the Islamic Revolution 40 years ago. During this revolution, thousands of people were displaced or murdered, women were deprived of almost all of their rights, and Hezbollah is [now] de facto occupying Lebanon thanks to support from Tehran. Hezbollah, which is classified as a terrorist group by the EU, regularly attacks Israel from Lebanese territory.”Annen expressed opposition to a ban of the Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah. Jerusalem Post press queries to the MP and to the Social Democratic Party on the federal level in Berlin and in Eimsbüttel were not returned.According to the pro-Israel NGO, “Although the German Bundestag has decided by a large agreement not to support any activities of the antisemitic BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] campaign” targeting Israel, Annen has withdrawn his support for the anti-BDS resolution.The organization wrote that “Annen not only has a big heart for the Iranian regime, but also a fundamental problem with Israel,” adding that his record shows a “list of hostilities against Israel.”
Annen, wrote the German-Israel Friendship Society, has also helped mainstream the activities of the pro-BDS and Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, a number of whose employees are or were affiliated with the EU- and US-designated terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).“We would like to encourage you, dear comrades, not to propose Niels Annen again as your candidate for the Bundestag and thus to make a contribution to understanding between the German and Israeli people,” wrote the society.
