Anti-Israel German party seeks to block arms deal to UAE-owned firm
Left party MPs support Hamas, Hezbollah, Muslim Brotherhood
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALA general view during a session of the lower house of parliament Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany July 1, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/FABRIZIO BENSCH)
The largely anti-Israel German Left party, whose MPs have expressed support for the terrorist movements Hamas and Hezbollah, seeks to block a €250 million weapons deal with a German company indirectly owned by the United Arab Emirates.It is unclear if the Left party in the East German state of Thuringia, where the weapons company C.G. Haenel is located, wants to pull the plug on the agreement because of Israel’s peace deal with the UAE.The Christian Democratic Union Party in Thuringia welcomed the arms deal for the local arms manufacturer. According to Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk ,the public broadcaster for Thuringia, Merkel’s CDU Party in the state said the arms deal was a "sustainable, good decision.” The €250 million contract involves C.G. Haenel delivering assault rifles to the German armed forces.C.G. Haenel is a subsidiary of the company Suhler Jagd-und Sportwaffenherstellers Merkel, a manufacturer of hunting weapons located in Suhl, Thuringia. The hunting weapons company Merkel is owned by Caracal-Holding in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.A spokesman for the Left party in Thuringia said lawsuits in connection with the selection of C.G. Haenel are possible. The party's spokesman told Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk that it welcomes business growth but “from the perspective of the Left, not with armaments.”The Jerusalem Post previously reported that Left party MP Christine Buchholz has defended Hezbollah and Hamas terrorism against Israel as a justified form of resistance. Buchholz is on the advisory board of the German-Palestinian Society that promotes a boycott of Israel. Germany declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization in April and banned all Hezbollah activities in the federal republic.In July, Germany’s top antisemitism expert and best-selling author Henryk M. Broder accused the Left party MP and foreign policy spokesman, Gregor Gysi, of stoking Jew-hatred in a fiery speech against Israel. Gysi flatly denied the allegation in an email to the Post. German Left party politicians were included on the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s list of the worst outbreak of antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred in 2014 for promoting the destruction of the Jewish state in the Bundestag.In 2010, Left party MPs traveled aboard the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara to break Israel’s sea blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The EU and US have designated Hamas a terrorist movement. The UN said in a report that Israel’s naval blockade is legal. The ship was filled with scores of radical Islamists, many of whom are aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
