BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas, which operates from the Gaza Strip, continues to provoke different reactions in Germany.
The writer and peace prize winner Navid Kermani described the situation in the Middle East in the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” (Saturday) as a new Thirty Years’ War. Since 2003 at the latest, one country after another has been falling apart, one country after another has been plagued by violence, displacement, civil war and terror. “What is happening to Israel now is not new. But it affects us much more because Israel is particularly close to us because of Germany’s history.” In the short term, there is “nothing you can do other than be with the people – on both sides.”
The chairwoman of the Israelite religious community for Munich and Upper Bavaria, Charlotte Knobloch, criticized the approval of pro-Palestinian rallies in German cities. “It’s a shame when politics in a country like Germany allows people to dance in the streets out of joy over the murder of Jews,” Knobloch told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Saturday). If there were no laws to prevent such events, “then we should just create them.”
Demonstrations are fundamentally protected by freedom of assembly, but can be restricted or even banned under certain conditions. Palestinian rallies were recently banned in several German cities due to security concerns or glorification of violence. However, it is legally controversial whether suspicion is sufficient for this.
The Central Council of Muslims in Germany warned against lumping all people with a Muslim background together. Central Council leader Aiman Mazyek told MDR Aktuell that they had called for moderation and prudence in the mosques. “We have to be careful not to fall for the extremists. Hamas is trying to exploit the Palestinians’ liberation struggle. They are perverting it through violence.”
Green Party leader Omid Nouripour told “Welt am Sonntag”: “We must not underestimate the danger posed by anti-Semitism and jihadism in Germany.” Therefore, support institutions such as the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) and their branches nationwide would also have to be “finally closed”. The IZH, which has been monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution for decades, is considered an extended arm of the Iranian regime, which congratulated Hamas on its attack on Israel on Saturday./mi/DP/he