AFTER OVER A MONTH ….. WE ARE STILL WAITING FOR ELECTION RESULTS IN ISRAEL

October 23, 2019 at 13:43 (Israeli Elections)

Adversaries now, allies then: Seen through a memorial wreath, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, sits next to his Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, left, at a ceremony in Jerusalem, April 15, 2013. The two are now in competition to see who can form the next Israeli government. | Jim Hollander / via AP

Netanyahu fails to form a government after Israeli election—What happens now?

BY ERIC A. GORDON

As of July 20, 2019, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu became the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history, edging out the founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.

In the general election on Sept. 17, he narrowly failed to secure a majority for his Likud Party. It marked a sea change in Israeli politics and history, a visible blow to the right-wing hegemony that has not only prevented solutions to the ongoing crisis of the Occupation but deepened it. Yet in the end, for reasons we’ll explain, little may change in the short term. The concluding chapter of the election story has yet to be written.

It’s a complex story owing to Israel’s parliamentary system, whereby in a nation and a Knesset sharply divided over ideology, religion, and ethnicity, governments have ruled by fragile, shifting coalitions, often of parties not otherwise friendly, designed to distribute government spoils and satisfy competing constituencies.

The September election was a re-run of the election on April 9, in which Likud narrowly won a plurality. A new upstart party, Blue and White, led by General Benny Gantz, came close to upsetting Bibi’s long-time tenure. Gantz’s platform was not so different from Bibi’s, but he came close to defeating him in the wake of public disgust with Netanyahu’s corruption, for which he is under indictment for financial and political crimes.

Nevertheless, after Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin asked Netanyahu to form a governing coalition, he couldn’t do it. The Knesset has 120 seats, and Bibi could not cobble together 61 seats, even with all the concessions such deal-making entails. Therefore, a new election had to be called for September in the hope that some voters might rethink their strategy for moving forward out of the morass.

This time, Blue and White came out ahead with 57 seats committed to a governing coalition, and Likud with 55. The difference this time came from the open support of Benny Gantz from the Joint List, a coalition of small Arab parties that includes Hadash, a configuration of the Communist Party of Israel, and led by a Palestinian Israeli, Member of Knesset (MK) Ayman Odeh. The List also includes the exclusively Arab Ta’al, the Islamist Ra’am, and the nationalist Balad. The Joint List took 10.6% of the vote and 13 Knesset seats, becoming the third-largest party in Israel.

On the question of the Occupation, Benny Gantz does not appreciably separate himself from the hardline Likud position. Yet for years Netanyahu has run a fear-based politics of no rights for Israel’s Palestinian citizens, appealing to Jews to vote for him because “the Arabs are stealing the election” and “voting in droves” (as if as citizens of Israel it’s not their right to vote). In recent elections, Likud set up video cameras at Arab polling stations to intimidate voters.

What the Joint List found more to their liking about Gantz is that at least he did not engage in openly racist anti-Arab hate-mongering and seemed willing to talk with Palestinian leaders respectfully. More than that, Gantz invited Odeh to speak at a Blue and White-Labor-Meretz election rally in Tel Aviv, where he received a tumultuous ovation.

Even so, Gantz would not have allowed the Joint List to actually form part of the government: That would have ignited a firestorm of Zionist outrage. But for numerical purposes, in order to form a majority in the Knesset, Joint List votes would be counted.

With Gantz in office, existential questions of Zionism and Occupation would not be addressed, but perhaps other issues might be, such as Israeli child poverty, the highest rate of any OECD country, affecting nearly half of Israel’s Palestinian citizens.

A shared future?

Traditionally, the president offers the party with the plurality vote the right to try forming a governing coalition. That is what happened in April, and Netanyahu failed. Most observers expected that this time Rivlin would make the offer to Gantz. But he did not. Instead, on Sept. 25, he offered it again to Netanyahu. Because in the meantime, one of the Joint List partners, the Palestinian nationalist party Balad, withdrew its three seats in protest against Gantz, eliminating his lead, a move that upset Odeh over his Joint List partner’s apparent unwillingness to learn to work with Jews. As proof that life is more real than rhetoric, the numbers, now 54 for Gantz to Bibi’s 55, gave the nod to Likud. So Netanyahu was back in the hot seat, desperately trying to hold onto the prime ministership as his wall of protection against conviction on corruption charges.

Netanyahu floated the idea of a Unity government, with himself, naturally, continuing as prime minister, at least for two years, to be followed by two years for Gantz—though who knows what could happen in two years: Netanyahu has proved himself a master manipulator. An Israeli Unity government would cut out not only the Joint List, but the left-wing Labor and Democratic Union (Meretz) parties, both of which lost seats in the Knesset, and the right-wing nationalist and religious parties. The government would be right-wing and secular, and continue to do nothing about resolving Palestinian claims both within Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza.

Gantz was unwilling to come into unity with the very party and man he twice ran against with considerable success.

One rather intriguing feature of a Unity government would be that the Joint List would then become the official leader of the opposition, entitling Ayman Odeh to be brought into consultation on state and foreign affairs and national security. It is anticipated, however, that in such a case, some loophole in the law would be found to prevent Arab representation at that level.

As Odeh stated in a Sept. 22 New York Timesop-ed piece, “Our decision to recommend Mr. Gantz as the next prime minister without joining his expected national unity coalition government is a clear message that the only future for this country is a shared future, and there is no shared future without the full and equal participation of Arab Palestinian citizens.”

Significantly, Odeh is one of several confirmed Palestinian speakers for the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” J Street National Conference in late October in Washington, D.C., expected to attract some 2,000 people, including Democratic presidential candidates who will lay out their visions for Israel/Palestine and the Middle East.

As of Oct. 21, Netanyahu (on his 70th birthday) revealed that he had failed again to form a government, so now the charge goes to Gantz. Other parties might become more flexible now and agree to join a Gantz government. Israeli politics, as much as or more than anywhere, is classic horse-trading. He has 28 days to try putting together a government. Perhaps Balad can be persuaded to return to the coalition, but that will still not be enough. Gantz will have to secure the partnership of at least one other party.

An interesting topic is the estimated 4,900 Jews across the country, even some in right-wing settlement communities and all-Jewish towns, who voted for the Joint List. They could have voted for liberal Zionist parties such as Labor or Meretz but chose instead to throw their weight toward Arab-led parties as a sign of support for the principle that Israel’s problems can and will only be solved be strengthening the Arab-Jewish coalition. Whatever they may profess publicly, these Jews objectively are declaring themselves “non-Zionists” who envision a future for all of Israel’s citizens without discrimination. Of the five Knesset seats won by Hadash, which is mostly Arab but has Jewish members also, one of them will go to the Jewish Ofer Cassif.

Pragmatism over ideology

The importance of the Joint List vote, and of the plurality that voted for Gantz and against Netanyahu should not be underestimated. It can be seen as a sign that the left, however it is reconstituted, is not dead, but focused on pragmatic rather than ideological goals. The Israeli “Old Left”—the Labor Party and other leftist Zionists who founded and led the country for its first thirty-odd years—has been marginalized. It may be time finally to acknowledge that a successful reconciliation of Zionism and egalitarian democracy was always a highly problematic project, if not indeed impossible. It was bound one day to reach a critical crossroads.

The fact that Netanyahu was defeated at the polls, that once again he could not form a government, sent shivers down the spines of Reaction. Likud polled lower in September than in April, so this may open up space for other voices in the party calling for him to pass the baton to less abrasive—and less criminal—leaders. And once out of office, Netanyahu may well land in prison.

A Gantz government would be a relief to the American Jewish establishment, and to a plurality of voters in Israel, because it would offer some welcome stability to the country after all of Netanyahu’s chaos and offensively open racism. An Israel led by Gantz would be far more amenable to U.S. Democratic voters and politicians—and for better or worse, help to regain bipartisan American support. Notably, Netanyahu’s defeat elicited scant attention from the White House. A political corner may have been turned. Sixty percent of eligible Palestinian Israelis voted: An even larger turnout would make an even greater difference by shifting the balance of power.

If Gantz, too, is unable to form a government, the president has the right to call upon any MK to try and patch together a minimum of 61 votes. Or he could call for an unprecedented third election.

The Joint List platform

What does the Joint List stand for? Its platform contains these major points:

A just peace based on the June 4, 1967, borders, that includes end of the Occupation, dismantling of settlements and the separation wall, release of political prisoners, a fair resolution of the refugee problem, and an independent State of Palestine. [This position was misrepresented by Netanyahu as wanting to “destroy Israel.”]
“Full equality, both national and civil, for the Arab-Palestinian public in Israel, as a homeland minority with collective and personal rights…. The List works to inculcate the values of pluralism and tolerance, and fights against the effects of violence, crime and the anarchy of weapons.”
Elimination of “all manifestations of racism and fascism” and “the establishment of a democratic constitution that enshrines the values of equality, justice, and human rights, and basic social rights and democratic freedoms.” [Israel has never had a written constitution, an intentionally instituted flaw designed to allow interpretation of policy to evolve—or devolve—according to administration, practice, national emergency or military law, and judicial ruling.]
“Workers’ rights, social and environmental justice…raise the minimum wage…guarantee the basic rights to health, education, welfare, and housing for all citizens.”
“Equal rights for women in all spheres of life….”
“Support and empower culture and art without discrimination or exclusion…preserve the status of the Arabic language as an official language….”
“The Joint List rejects the imperialist involvement in the affairs of the countries of the region and the world, the policy of religious and ethnic divisions, and the dissolution of states and peoples. The List supports the right of peoples to independence, freedom, justice, and democracy.”
“The Joint List is struggling to demilitarize the Middle East, including Israel, nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction….”

The Joint List platform, which does not mention “Zionism,” is largely based on the Hadash program. Palestinian Israelis cannot afford the luxury of fighting “Zionism,” if by that is meant the existence of Israel as a nation-state in the world. They recognize that neither Israel nor its Jewish inhabitants are going anywhere. Their focus is instead on practical, achievable goals that can help bring Israeli citizens of all backgrounds together.

Aida Touma-Suleiman, for example, an MK representing the Joint List and Hadash, heads the Knesset’s Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. In that capacity, she has traveled to Orthodox Jewish towns to join with women there protesting separate sidewalks for men and women.

Last October, Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, with a long-recognized Arab minority, elected Dr. Einat Kalisch Rotem as its first woman mayor. A member of the now beleaguered Labor Party, she won her five-year term by forming a coalition that included Hadash, Meretz (which votes with Hadash 90% of the time), and an Orthodox party. Immediately, she was criticized by Netanyahu for including in her municipal government “anti-Israel” people. At the same time, the nationalist Arab parties criticized Hadash for serving in a “Zionist” administration. She responded that the problems of Haifa, such as pollution, housing, education, and equality, had nothing to do with Zionism. For deputy mayor, she appointed someone from Meretz for the first half of her term and another from Hadash for the second half.

In other municipal elections, the city of Lod is also exemplary. Yair Revivo, the incumbent mayor from the Likud Party, won handily, but the 90% turnout of the Palestinian vote earned Arab representation on almost half of the city council. No angry phone call came from Netanyahu in protest.

Although Israel/Palestine activists in America, as well as some in nationalist Arab parties within Israel, are laser-focused on “Zionism,” practical politics demands solutions to real, on-the-ground issues that go far beyond ideology.

Past experience backs up this strategy. In 1992, the Labor Party’s Yitzhak Rabin won his election with support from an Arab party and Hadash. Both knew they would not form part of his government, but by offering him his winning votes, they secured his majority and gained better treatment in Palestinian towns—schools, sewage, construction. Rabin also made progress at Oslo on the two-state solution—for which the fanatical Jewish nationalist/religious right wing gunned him down in 1995.

If Gantz is able to form a government, Palestinians feel that even without tackling the two-state problem, he might address other issues, such as the infestation of illegal weapons in Arab towns which are killing hundreds of Arab victims every year. Most of those weapons come from the Israeli Defense Forces. Crime is overlooked, and perhaps even tacitly promoted, so long as Arabs are killing Arabs.

The future of Israel will not be determined by elections alone. Some of the other groups working toward justice in various areas of civic life include:

Standing Together, a grassroots organization of Jews and Arabs.

Peace Now, founded in 1978, supporting two states based in the 1967 borders.

Yesh Gvul (There is a Limit), founded to support refuseniks during the first Lebanon War in 1982.

B’Tselem (In the Image of), the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

Breaking the Silence, founded in 2005 to collect testimonies from Israeli soldiers.

Rabbis for Human Rights, working to legally prevent or reverse the takeover of Palestinian lands and homes.

Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, a women’s organization monitoring occurrences on the borders between Israel and the Occupied Territories.

Physicians for Human Rights, founded in 1988 during the first Palestinian intifada.

Combatants for Peace, a volunteer organization of former Israeli and Palestinian fighters now committed to nonviolent means to promote peace.

The New Israel Fund, founded in 1979 and U.S.-based, supports a large number of democratic and civil rights organizations within Israel.

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AS IF WE DIDN’T KNOW ….. ZIONISM IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

October 23, 2019 at 13:13 (Associate Post, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Collective Punishment, DesertPeace Exclusive, zionism)

Why are the Palestinian rights, which also include a legal and UN-approved right of return to their stolen and occupied homeland, portrayed here as a terror that threatens Israel and its right to exist? This is a crime that, like the National Law, restricts even more the rights of all minorities and has as little to do with democracy as Zionism.

Zionism is a Crime Against Humanity

Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

When AKK, the new German Minister of War, Annegret Kramp-K (n) arrenberger, made her inaugural visit to the “Jewish State,” Israel’s security was the German raison d’etre. She was so motivated by her attachment to the “Jewish state” that she particularly pointed out that her first trip abroad, outside the EU, was going to Israel, that she was consciously choosing to speak in Israel as a privilege. According to “boss” Merkel, who in 2008 had already made the German state rationale for the security of Israel a “matter of the heart”. Even then AKK words should have made us deeply worried – their words of recognition to Israel, how to learn from Israel in terms of defense and cybersecurity.

Israel’s reign of terror

What we learn from Israel is how an apartheid state has managed to become a victim of the Holocaust, building a reign of terror over the illegal occupation of Palestine, which is unique in the world. As Netanyahu once said when it came to US support, the Jewish lobby in the US is so strong that we can expect support again and again.

In fact, this support, which is supported by all parties in Germany – supported by the lobby – has become official and uncritical policy. While Jewish settlements, war crimes and crimes against international law are being promoted as “self-defense” to actively support this small, allegedly only enemy-threatened country, the systematic destruction of Palestinian infrastructure and life here is virtually unnoticed or philosemitically ignored.

AKK as an Israeli combat drone

So, if AKK demands a “security zone” for Syria, why has not it made this demand to Israel, which almost daily violates sovereign rights and airspaces through drone surveillance and attacks? Why are more than questionable Kurdish fighters supported, but Palestinian resistance fighters defamed as terrorists? Because the “Jewish state” and the Israel lobby are massively pursuing this “whispering policy” and have German philosemitic functionaries firmly in their hands?

When AKK emphasized responsibility for the present and the future during her visit to the “Jewish State” out of historical guilt and presented this as a “personal” obligation in the spirit of hope and friendship, she was actually aware of how she was doing so International law and human rights trample? While AKK as CDU chairman and “Minister of Defense” sought to profile themselves on all “waves” in order to finally position themselves for the chancellorship.

Her request to intervene in Syria and to demand an international security zone in the Syrian territory to Turkey seemed to her the opportunity for the “liberation blow”. When she brashly styled and styled on ZDF on Monday night and acted like Merkel’s model in the red blazer – but still with a cross around her neck – one could almost see how the prospects for German military cooperation and leadership inspired her. AKK, which made itself such a self-important “combat drone”, wanted to see their initiative as an important contribution in view of the difficult humanitarian situation in northern Syria. AKK wanted to position itself internationally to take control, so as not to let Russia and Turkey alone to cooperate. While she probably already dreams of that “her” Bundeswehr troops will intervene there, she knows very well that the Bundestag must decide on it. We do not know whether it will come back to the UNO decision on German actions, but with this kind of politicians this is quite conceivable.

Right-wing extremist friendships

While she briefed her colleague AA-Maas about her plans and said that she was surprised, and that she sees “still need for discussion” in the proposals and considers it too early for such considerations, you can not be sure how he and the SPD will finally decide when it comes to the “Gro / Ko” sausage? After all, it is precisely this Foreign Minister in terms of the “Jewish State” so connected with the views of the CDU colleague. Had he not announced his deep attachment to Israel during his visit to Israel, since he had gone into politics because of Auschwitz, building up a friendship with a far-right former colleague? With Ayeled Shaked, who did not hesitate to make their election campaign with reference to this “friendship”?

In fact, Maas actually complained about Israel’s “exclusion” by the UN in May and that it did not behave correctly towards Israel. Indeed, the “Auschwitz Minister” actually vowed to strengthen Jerusalem’s position in foreign policy to end this “painful and unsatisfactory” state, to strengthen Israel’s present and legitimate interests, and to block any attempt to delegitimize or isolate the “Jewish state”. to prevent. So what else can we expect from these politicians, who continue to side with an apartheid and occupied state that knowingly disregards international law and commits war crimes of the worst kind?

Of course, what Israel is allowed to do when it comes to Turkey is very different. A violation of international law will only be punished and sanctions will only be demanded if it is allegedly committed by Russia or Turkey. Let us be relieved that the US is withdrawing from Syria. But they will have trouble stationing these “great Trump’s troops.” Already dismisses the Iraq and do not want to have these troops in the country, after all, one has enough experience with US war troops made.

Syrian refugees: product of criminal Zionist power politics?

But my big worry is that the “Jewish deputy” is already clenching his hooves, waiting to intervene in Syria to kill two birds with one stone: to weaken Assad so that he no longer has any claims on the illegally occupied and Golan Heights, which belongs to Syria. To eliminate Iran definitively and to blow it completely out of Syria. Was not it Israel, which from the beginning put the fray on Syria, Lebanon and Iran, to fire the fire as a fire-accelerant. Are not the many Syrian refugees today and the Palestinian people in Lebanon a victim of this criminal Zionist power politics?

If we had not had Turkey, which took away the millions of refugees, we would be even more stupid. Merkel would not do anything without the Turkey agreement. Israel in particular is a master in refugee creation and then rejects it. (Except for Jewish people) This is one of the reasons why AfD and the Zionist regime work so well together. The fight against Muslims connects them. The rise of right-wing extremists worldwide has made Zionist politics even more powerful.

Kramp Karrenbauer and Merkel should take care that they do not take over if they make big foreign policy. Neither Russia nor Turkey will take a long look at these “AKK games”. If now also the “left” Katja Kipping Erdogan and Turkey threatens and even calls to freeze his accounts, then the incompetent ladies trio is complete.

A state that disregards international and human rights must have no right to exist

When it comes to Jewish concerns, all “values” are nullified, and all that matters is the security and existence of a “Jewish state,” which as a state that disregards international and human rights, has no right to exist , As long as the existence of a Palestinian state and sovereignty of this people is not supported, the “Jewish state” can not be supported. However, we are further away than ever. Also elections will not change anything in Israel nothing.

If outgoing EU Commission President Juncker prides himself on not having one of the world’s 60 or so ongoing wars taking place in Europe, that is very “pleasant”, but covers up an important fact that we are making a lot of money on these wars and pursue their own economic interests. Oil fields and natural gas must be protected, that is the maxim of “economic values”, the basis of geopolitics. Has not Israel been trying for some time to profitably exploit the huge oilfields on its doorstep?

If the final goal of the Federal Government is the new military strength, ever higher arms spending and arms sales, perhaps with the “ultimate goal” of horror and the stationing of nuclear weapons, then it is time for us to defend ourselves against it as German citizens Contribute to politics.

When human rights statements degenerate into phrases …

If the European Union pretends to defend human rights and speaks of values to be defended, but all these “values” become phrases, then it is overdue that finally a rethinking takes place and the “Jewish state” as an apartheid state and illegal Occupying power is treated. As long as millions of Palestinians are deprived of their rights to live in dignity and freedom, and Germany does not face historical and contemporary responsibility, as long as we, who criticize Israel and support the Boycott Disinvestment Sanctions Movement (BDS), become criminals Anti-Semites should be made and the freedom of expression should be silenced, as long as it pays to stand up for it, especially in Germany!

Yes, I support the statement by Turkish President Erdogan that “Zionism is a crime against humanity”.

Originally posted AT

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DEMONIZING ISLAM IN THE GERMAN MEDIA

October 16, 2019 at 11:42 (Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Germany, Media Lies)

While Islam and Muslims are often described as backward, reactionary and dangerous, they try to portray Judaism as a haven of humanism and tolerance. However, if we look into the “Jewish state”, the reality is quite different. A Zionist regime of oppression and occupation based on Old Testament rules, which is contrary to international law and inhuman, is neither democratic nor tolerant.

The ominous influence of the “media companion”

by Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

In fact, we now have a poisoned atmosphere in Germany, not just since the murderous attack in Halle, but for many years. What’s going on here about right-wing extremism and unbridled neo-Nazi marches and organizations has been more or less accepted for decades. The raucous hordes of East German villages moved and watched the police helpless, is not an isolated case. It is the old anti-Semitism, which always finds a breeding ground and will never change. Only when a German politician was murdered did one wake up. While the NSU murders, in which many things remain in the dark until today and waiting for clarification, one would have to listen. (1)

Post-war Germany marked by the stuffiness of the brown talare

After two attacks on my father’s grave, Heinz-Galinski, in September and December 1998, when my husband and I wanted to suspend a reward for the capture of the offender, we were called by the Berlin Attorney General that it was unnecessary and that the investigation after only six weeks after the fact (!) would be set. It boosted the video surveillance and that’s it. When, after my father’s death, two pig heads were thrown across the synagogue’s Erfurt wall, with slips of paper around their necks saying, “At last the pig Galinski is dead,” the perp was a well-known neo-Nazi, Dienel, the monthly money from the constitution protection Thuringia got. Organs like the National-Zeitung, which were able to spread their right-wing ideas without restraint, were normal. Post-war Germany was marked by the stuffiness of the brown talare. Everything was accepted then, and in response to that brown past came the 68s who protested. All this was a thorn in the side of the Springer press, which today still stands in the blind support of Israel and found a terrible climax with the Dutschke assassination and the death of orphan. Countless right-wing extremist attacks against Jewish institutions were sad normality. Yes, that was living anti-Semitism. Countless right-wing extremist attacks against Jewish institutions were sad normality. Yes, that was living anti-Semitism. Countless right-wing extremist attacks against Jewish institutions were sad normality. Yes, that was living anti-Semitism.

Quite typical: one was blind in the right eye and instead turned his attention to “left-wing terrorism” according to the “cold-war custom”, led by the “Springer-Cold War press”. To this day, we experience this monopoly of opinion of certain media. Since everything is lumped in the meantime, which has absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Halle has shown in a cruel way, which also individual offenders are able to tinker with the simplest means dangerous weapons and – see Breivik and Christchurch – can cause a massacre. That it did not happen in Halle, we owe a lucky circumstance that the synagogue door withstood. That there was no police monitoring is inexcusable, even if Saxony-Anhalt’s Interior Minister Stahlknecht and his authorities “have no blame.” Stahlknecht is therefore in the pure and tries to dismiss the warnings of the Federal Criminal Police Office, which had long warned against attacks, as “fictitious and not concrete”. Constant surveillance of Jewish institutions is still everyday and unfortunately important. Just as important, however, is the protection of Muslim institutions and mosques.

Soon Turkish and Russian “anti-terrorist units” to guard in Germany?

It should make us all deeply concerned that fear and prejudice against Islam and Muslims are being fueled in Germany, which are already meeting with fertile ground among the population. While Muslims mutate into new Jews, on whom one can unload hate and hate, Jews are lifted on a pedestal. Philosemitism, which succeeded the old anti-Semitism, has become a terrible danger. It is a danger that should startle Jews.

And that makes me come to the actual thought of my comment. Do German Jews really want to be thrown into a pot with the “Jewish occupying regime”? Why is it uncritically accepted that Chancellor Merkel calls Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to assure her of her concern. (2) Affected are members of a religious community and non-Israeli citizens. Or are German Jews meanwhile equated with Israeli? If that is the intention of the Central Council of Jews and Israel, then good night Germany.

I still remember the indignation when the former President of the Central Council, Bubis, was addressed to “his” president, the Israeli. Do you still have to wonder? What is to be kept from the fact that Israeli “anti-terrorist units” are guarding Jewish institutions, as reported by the German media’s “Krebsgeschwür,” Bild-Zeitung. Is that part of the German state rationale? And is that compatible with the Constitution? Imagine that there are Turkish or Russian “anti-terror units”, what would be the cause of an outcry? (3)

Does the attack in Halle not just the “Jewish state” located?

Is it really in the Jewish sense to be treated as standing under a special protection of species? Do you want to be a “fellow citizen” or not a citizen who has arrived and is not accepted. Unfortunately, everything points exactly to the opposite. While politicians and security forces outdo each other in action and decisions, it would be perfectly sufficient to implement existing laws.

The many notorious perpetrators were in the pay of the constitution protection, is known and was accepted. When former constitutional protection chief Maßen fell out of favor due to his right-wing tendencies, Seehofer held his protective hand over him and held on to him in loyalty to the Nibelung until the barrel was overflowing and modest in his “rightfulness” could no longer be maintained. (4) (5)

Does the terrible attack in Halle not just the “Jewish state” located? While the government and the Federal President complain about anti-Semitism and racism, solidarity with Jews is manifested in Germany, vigils and church services take place, and “never again” is invoked, attempts are made to undo failures in this way. To deal with these omissions, however, it is necessary to finally criticize and sanction human and international crimes in the “Jewish state”. But if that is missed by the “rulers” and concealed, that is a shame. So while the Zionist regime continues its occupation crimes on the Palestinian people with increasing Judaization, further construction of new settlements is announced, Torture is carried out by the state, it does not seem to matter in Germany. What else has to happen, until finally it comes to a “normality” in the good sense – not in AfD manner? (6) (7)

Transfiguration of the “chosen” driven to new heights

On the contrary, it seems that the transfiguration of the “chosen ones” is being driven to new heights. I was stunned to hear from one of the participating journalists, Alexander Kissler, last Sunday in the Press Club on Racism and Anti-Semitism, that we must now support Israel even more in response to the attack in Halle. Instead of the moderator Jörg Schönenborn demanded a clarification, this requirement remained so. Do not German journalists really ask themselves how to take an uncritical attitude to Israel? How do you want to make that plausible to the viewer, that we silently solidarize with this “Jewish apartheid occupation state”? Was therefore also the otherwise subsequent 15-minute audience broadcast “demand” replaced without replacement and without further explanation? Is this the German “reason of state” for Israel, which also applies to the public-law state radio? Can these “opinion guides” actually still look in the mirror? Should not they ask themselves whether they still regard themselves as journalists or have already completely degenerated into submissive command recipients?

It seems that attempts are now being made to distract from the right-wing extremist problem by focusing on Palestinian anti-Israel activists, boycott groups called “anti-Semitic” (!), And “radical leftists” in the interests of Israel pay attention to the critics and away from the crimes. Here we are dealing with a perfect interaction of Israel lobby, “opinion leaders” and politicians. Thus, one must establish a content context of the anti-BDS decision of the Bundestag of May 2019 and point it out again and again. This kills two birds with one stone, fosters fear and portrays Israel as a rescuing refuge. What more does the “Jewish state” fear than more Jews leaving the “promised land”! So one tries with Hasbara propagandistic Angstschürung massively to promote the immigration (Allyah rise) – prefers also to strengthen the settlements. Is not reality a different one? Is not it just a lot of Jewish Israelis emigrating? Just think of the more than 30,000 living in Berlin, who live according to the Central Council of Jews to a large extent in “no-go” areas.

Again, the official side is trying to bring right-wing terrorism into connection with “Islamism”. This is completely wrong and only helps the AfD and Israel. When I warned against this party when the AfD was founded, I was massively attacked. When I wrote and said that their voters can not be excused as protestors, I was attacked again, why? Because this party boasts of being on the side of the Jews?

If “opinion companion” without scruples in a staging play

Were not CSU and CDU politicians haunting similar sounds that they no longer want to know today? Did not they try to linguistically outdo each other in their actionism? Were not there sayings such as “German values” and statements that Islam does not belong to Germany, which fueled the spiritual breeding ground for this “brown seed”? Every day we experience what we have to do with “German values”: shameless double standards when it comes to the “Jewish state”.

So now, after the “Kippa marches”, when we experience “Star of David marches”, that’s once again a one-sided support for a group. While more mosques and Muslim institutions have been attacked, migrants can not be sure, the importance of anti-Semitism is exaggerated. Anti-Semitism exists and was and is strengthened today by the policy of the “Jewish state”. Germany is guilty again – not only because “BDS followers” and Jews who profess to boycott, disinvestments and sanctions until Palestine is free, are defamed as anti-Semites, but also through this new philosemitism of “opinion leaders”, who plays with no scruples in a production that could prove dangerous for all Jews. Let us take an example of the USA. There, more and more Jews – especially younger ones – are turning away from the blind support of the “Jewish state” because they realize that they serve Jewish life without fear. If fears are fueled here with the help of “Christian Zionist” politicians and the Israel lobby instead of rooting all evil, then Jews should really be scared of this kind of “opinion leader” and her helpers.

footnotes:

(1) https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/zdfzoom/zdfzoom-die-todesliste-des-nsu-100.html

(2) https://www.zeit.de/news/2019-10/10/merkel-telefoniert-mit-netanjahu

(3) https://www.bild.de/bild-plus/politik/inland/politik-inland/synagogen-in-deutschland-schutz-durchan-anti-terror-einheiten-aus-israel-65257422,view=conversionToLogin .bild.html

(4) https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2018-09/horst-seehofer-hans-georg-maassen-koalition

(5) https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/auskunft-nach-gerichtsbeschluss-beriet-maassen-doch-die-afd/24448734.html

(6) https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-israel-s-conscience-sedated-and-on-a-respirator-1.7927815

(7) https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191013-israel-to-build-new-settlement-homes-in-west-bank/

Originally posted AT

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THE ISRAELI NON GOVERNMENT’S FIRST MOVE

October 10, 2019 at 14:15 (Activism, Boycott Israel, Israel, Palestine)

Israel’s Minister of the Interior says he is taking action to force Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, out of the country.

Israel prepares to deport BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti

Jonathan Ofir

Israel’s Minister of the Interior says he is taking action to force Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, out of the country.

I intend to act quickly to deprive Omar Barghouti of residency status in Israel… This is a man who does everything to harm the country and therefore must not enjoy the right to be a resident of Israel.

Aryeh Deri said he had directed the Population and Immigration Authority to prepare a legal opinion aimed at Barghouti’s deportation.

The announcement comes after Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber notified Deri’s office that it had the authority to revoke Barghouti’s residency. The legal basis: a 2018 amendment to the residency law, listing “breach of trust” as a crime which may justify stripping a residency status. Barghouti married a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and lives under the residency status in the city of Acre.

Imagine it – the state “trusts” you to not take it to task for its violations, it “trusts” you to not complain and to accept these violations, and if you protest, even in a non-violent and civil manner, you have breached that “trust”.

Barghouti has long been a target for fascistic suggestions. In a 2016 anti-BDS conference sponsored by the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, then Minister of Transportation and Intelligence Israel Katz suggested “targeted civil eliminations” of BDS leadership. “Targeted elimination” is a well-known Israeli term for assassination. He merely added the “civil” to make it sound more “civil”. Barghouti was singled out by name, and the anti-BDS Czar Gilad Erdan said that BDS activists will “pay a price”. “We will soon be hearing more of our friend Barghouti”, Erdan hinted insidiously.

Soon after that, the local Ministry of the Interior office notified Barghouti that his travel document (which he has to renew every two years) would not be renewed. It was then temporarily renewed following legal pressure. Barghouti told Glenn Greenwald at the time:

So we are really unnerved, I am personally quite unnerved by those threats. We take them very seriously, especially in this context. We live in a country where racism and racial incitement against indigenous Palestinians has grown tremendously into the Israeli mainstream. It has really become mainstream today to be very openly racist against Palestinians. Many settlers and hard-right-wing Israelis are taking matters into their own hands – completely supported by the state – and attacking Palestinians. So in that context I am unnerved, but I’m certainly undeterred. I shall continue my non-violent struggle for Palestinian rights under international law and nothing they can do will stop me.

Barghouti was indeed “targeted”, but so far only by the “civil” means of preventing his travels by bureaucratic means. Lately that has included US and UK initiatives, with nebulous holdups and refusals which the governments didn’t seek to defend.

In the US case last April, Barghouti was stopped at the Israeli Ben Gurion airport and denied travel to the US, despite having a valid visa. James Zogby of the Arab American Institute, which had been coordinating the trip, commented:

Omar Barghouti is a leading Palestinian voice on human rights. Omar’s denial of entry into the US is the latest example of the Trump administration’s disregard for those rights.

In the UK case from last month, Barghouti was meant to speak at a fringe event of the Labour conference, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). He ended up speaking on skype, due to an “unexplained, abnormal delay” in the issuing of his visa. PSC said in a statement:

The unprecedented delay in processing Barghouti’s travel visa application by the British government is part and parcel of the growing efforts by Israel and its allies to suppress Palestinian voices and the movements for Palestinian rights,

The recent move to revoke Barghouti’s residency seems to result from a right-wing incitement campaign by the group Betzalmo (a pun on the human rights monitoring group B’tselem). They wrote to Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit and to Deri just over a week ago, urging them to expel Barghouti. In their letter they noted the US’s denial of entry, and asked why the Israeli government has not acted to strip Barghouti of his residency rights. They elaborated that Barghouti harms the state, breaches allegiance and is a security threat:

A recent law authorizes the Interior Minister, with the approval of the attorney-general, to revoke residency for anyone who harms state security or violates allegiance to the state, or endangers public peace… Undoubtedly Barghouti’s leadership of the boycott movement against all citizens of the State of Israel severely harms the State of Israel and is a blatant breach of allegiance, as well as a threat to Israel’s security and defense by pushing for an arms embargo against Israel.

So: The green light from the Attorney-General’s office, a further green light from Deri’s office, and the machine seems set to deport the “traitor”.

For Israel, Barghouti proves that you can’t trust Palestinians to shut up, and that they need to learn it the hard way. But every step that Israel takes in its repressive attempt to silence dissent, becomes another reason to boycott it. Indeed, as Erdan promised, we’ve heard a lot from, and about, Omar Barghouti. And we’re bound to hear much more about him, and BDS.

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A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR ……. FOR SOME, NOT ALL

October 2, 2019 at 14:17 (Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Germany, Palestine)

There is nothing to celebrate for Jews who shut their eyes to the crimes of Zionist regimes

German exclusion

By Evelyn Hecht-Galinski Comment from the high blue

For the New Year of the Jews 5780 (2020) I feel marginalized, among many others who are working to end the illegal occupation of Palestine. The Jewish New Year festival literally means “head of the year” and initiates the ten days of penance that end in Yom Kippur, literally “day of atonement”. If you read the many greetings to the Jewish New Year, from politics and religion, then you can literally feel the Transfiguration of a religion that flourished despite the Holocaust in Germany – if, for example, Chancellor Merkel in her congratulation so flowery formulated as: “It is a unique and wonderful proof of trust and a great enrichment for our country, that Jewish life could blossom again after the collapse of civilization of the Shoah … At the same time, courageous people stand up for our values.

I did not survive Auschwitz to keep silent on new injustice

When my father returned to Berlin in 1945, Belsen was freed from concentration and extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Bergen. Alone, his wife and mother were gassed, father had already died at police station, but it was still or just for this reason his only goal in life, again a ” normal and worth living for Jews in Germany. This task he realized under the most difficult conditions in his city Berlin. What he began in 1948, he led until his death in 1992 against all resistance to an end. He, who educated me to be a critical political citizen, free of complexes and traumas, was an uncomfortable person. To be uncomfortable with the “rulers” was not easy even then, after all he had to fight against all the old Nazis in the new parties, who immediately fell to their feet again and came in successfully. At that time it was not liked to be reminded of what Germany had done for evil especially against Jews, but also against other peoples and occupied countries. At that time, anti-Semitism was still very much alive. Nevertheless, he went his own way and achieved his goal of reviving the Berlin Jewish community and a Jewish community in Germany.

His life motto after the liberation “I have not survived Auschwitz to silence to new injustice” he fully exhausted and passed it on to me.

So I feel very connected to Gideon Levy, the important supporter of Palestinian freedom and outstanding Haaretz journalist. He wrote a very personal commentary in Haaretz entitled “Another Israel: The Rosh Hashanah of My Childhood” on September 29, 2019, in which he bills the injustice policy of the “Jewish State”. No, I am not an Israeli citizen, but a German citizen with Jewish roots. But our goals and thoughts are very similar. Levy writes “My father did not want to come. He loathed religion and knew nothing about the Jewish holidays, even though his father ran the church in his city. He came to Palestine illegally. In Israel in 2019 they would call him an intruder. At that time, they called him a secret immigrant. At the train station in Prague he said goodbye to his parents and fiancée whom he would never meet again. He spent five months at sea on an illegal immigration ship (now referred to as a refugee ship), including detention in Beirut, an institution now known in Israel as ‘Holot’, the detention center for African asylum seekers. We knew nothing about transit camps for immigrants or ethnic communities. Where the Tel Aviv Dizengoff Center stands today was a transit camp for immigrants built on the ruins of a village. ” So far excerpts from Levy’s readable article. (1) He spent five months at sea on an illegal immigration ship (now referred to as a refugee ship), including detention in Beirut, an institution now known in Israel as ‘Holot’, the detention center for African asylum seekers. We knew nothing about transit camps for immigrants or ethnic communities. Where the Tel Aviv Dizengoff Center stands today was a transit camp for immigrants built on the ruins of a village. ” So far excerpts from Levy’s readable article. (1) He spent five months at sea on an illegal immigration ship (now referred to as a refugee ship), including detention in Beirut, an institution now known in Israel as ‘Holot’, the detention center for African asylum seekers. We knew nothing about transit camps for immigrants or ethnic communities. Where the Tel Aviv Dizengoff Center stands today was a transit camp for immigrants built on the ruins of a village. ” So far excerpts from Levy’s readable article. (1) was a transit camp for immigrants, built on the ruins of a village “. So far excerpts from Levy’s readable article. (1) was a transit camp for immigrants, built on the ruins of a village “. So far excerpts from Levy’s readable article. (1)

Terrifying deficit of democratic attitude and empathy

But let’s get back to Chancellor Merkel. If, in her message to the Central Council of Jews, she advocates respect and tolerance, a peaceful and prosperous togetherness, I ask myself: how can she allow Jews in Germany to be marginalized again just because they are to ensure that the “Jewish State” complies with international law and human rights? When Merkel made the German raison d’être for the security of Israel an “order per mutti”, she certainly did not think about the security of Palestine and the Palestinians. After all, there is still no Palestinian state today. Merkel is not innocent of this fact among many other colleagues. It is not enough, Mrs. Merkel, to appeal to “our” values, to demand courage and the “two-state solution”, but, on the other hand, inactively watching the Zionist regime implement new settlement plans on a daily basis and conclude annexation plans – while brave Palestinians who resist the Zionist illegal occupation and are even willing to sacrifice their lives for it, are being fought as terrorists. When you, Ms Merkel, conveyed your solidarity to the Netanyahu regime during the Gaza genocide and awarded the right to “self-defense” by the “most moral” of all Jewish “Defense Forces” (IDF), they charged us “a German debt,” urgently waiting for “reparation”. who are legally resisting the Zionist illegal occupation and are even willing to sacrifice their lives for it as terrorists are being fought. When you, Ms Merkel, conveyed your solidarity to the Netanyahu regime during the Gaza genocide and awarded the right to “self-defense” by the “most moral” of all Jewish “Defense Forces” (IDF), they charged us “a German debt,” urgently waiting for “reparation”. who are legally resisting the Zionist illegal occupation and are even willing to sacrifice their lives for it as terrorists are being fought. When you, Ms Merkel, conveyed your solidarity to the Netanyahu regime during the Gaza genocide and awarded the right to “self-defense” by the “most moral” of all Jewish “Defense Forces” (IDF), they charged us “a German debt,” urgently waiting for “reparation”.

When the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Reinhard Marx sends his wishes for peace and blessing to the Central Council of Jews, a man who visited the occupied West Bank in 2007 – at that time as a bishop – and knows exactly how the suffering and occupation of the Palestinian people looks, but today can not say a word more in his message about it, then that is regrettable. If Marx praises Christians who resisted their lives and rescued Jews, but regretfully found that most Christians were indifferent, we must not forget the parallels to today. Resistance to injustice and occupation is indivisibly linked and human obligation! In 2007, did not the then tour group of the bishops react in horror to Ramallah and call the states a ghetto? How they were then attacked by the Central Council of Jews under Paul Spiegel, because they had dared to use the word ghetto. Immediately, the Central Council forbade the word ghetto, since that word applied only to the Warsaw Ghetto and would not tolerate any comparison. I still remember very well how I supported her and called ghetto a “common term today”, which he is. There is no Jewish “exclusive claim” to the word ghetto. (2) Would not it be time for David Schuster, the current President of the Central Council, who is always the mouthpiece of the Israeli government? to speak in the conscience? Just a message of greeting for the Jewish New Year would be a hitch, Cardinal Marx. Why not take a role model in the Anglican Church of South Africa, which just joined a boycott decision by the BDS movement (boycott, divestments and sanctions). After all, these South African Anglicans know only too well what apartheid and occupation mean. Let’s just read the former Jewish ANC activists and ministers, supporters of the BDS movement, Ronnie Kasrils, who equates the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the crackdown on critics with South Africa’s apartheid situation. (4) (5) Divestments and sanctions). After all, these South African Anglicans know only too well what apartheid and occupation mean. Let’s just read the former Jewish ANC activists and ministers, supporters of the BDS movement, Ronnie Kasrils, who equates the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the crackdown on critics with South Africa’s apartheid situation. (4) (5) Divestments and sanctions). After all, these South African Anglicans know only too well what apartheid and occupation mean. Let’s just read the former Jewish ANC activists and ministers, supporters of the BDS movement, Ronnie Kasrils, who equates the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the crackdown on critics with South Africa’s apartheid situation. (4) (5)

So, when Jewish citizens celebrate New Year around the world but Palestinian people are incarcerated to avoid disturbing the “festivities on stolen land”, and that is not mentioned in a message of congratulation or political response, that is not an encouraging sign, but proves a frightening one Deficit in a democratic attitude and empathy. No, not Israel criticism is anti-constitutional, but it’s decisions of the Bundestag, such as those against the BDS movement and this as anti-Semitic declare. (6)

Something is wrong in the state

If the “Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East” bank accounts are terminated because they support the BDS movement, if Jewish journalists, writers, activists, associations that promote Palestinian freedom and support the BDS movement, public spaces be denied or terminated and only courts have to guarantee the right to freedom of expression, then something is quite wrong in the state.

If award ceremonies – as just happened – are canceled to the British-Pakistani author Kamila Shamsie just because she actively supports the BDS movement, then a point has been reached that has nothing to do with democracy anymore. The Nelly Sachs Prize, which was to be awarded to Shamsie, but then withdrawn, hit waves worldwide. Nelly Sachs, the German-Jewish-Swedish namesake of this award from the city of Dortmund, dedicated her life to others. Even her serious illness did not prevent her from digesting her terrible experiences literarily and poetically. She received countless honors and awards – as in 1965, when she was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. In 1966 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature together with Samuel Joseph Agnon by the Swedish King Gustav VI. Adolf. She quoted a poem written especially for this ceremony and gave away half of her prize money to the needy and the other half to her old friend Gudrun Harlan. When Nelly Sachs had to cancel a planned trip to Israel on the advice of her doctor in 1967, she did not hesitate to intervene in a public telegram for the reception of Günter Grass by the Israeli Writers’ Association. Nelly Sachs would surely have been horrified if she had yet to experience a prize being denied her name – a great literary colleague who fights for the freedom of Palestine. She who feared that in Israel “the persecuted might soon become persecutors,” was scared of these atrocities. She who was so astute and forward-looking, who championed colleagues, would surely have been proud of the high-profile supporters of an open supporters letter with high-profile names among the 240 intellectual signers who rightly speak of punishment. This open letter, first published by the London Review of Books, is entitled “The Right to Boycott – Right to Boycott”. (7) This open letter, first published by the London Review of Books, is entitled “The Right to Boycott – Right to Boycott”. (7) This open letter, first published by the London Review of Books, is entitled “The Right to Boycott – Right to Boycott”. (7)

On September 30, Aachener Nachrichten reported that the city of Aachen is withdrawing from the awarding of the Aachener Kunstpreis. Reason: the designated prizewinner, the Lebanese-American artist Walid Raad, is accused of being a follower of the BDS movement and repeatedly been on “measures to the cultural boycott of Israel,” as Aachen Mayor Marcel Philipp (CDU) said. Whether the donors of the award, the association of Friends of the Ludwig Forum to the award holds, decides this week. This witch hunt and a sneak peek against internationally respected artists will lead to more and more “honorees” turning away when a prize-giving ceremony threatens. Even more explosive gets the thing, if the “constitutional contactor” of federal and state governments should classify the BDS movement as anti-constitutional. Will supporters ever be allowed into the country, or have we fully adopted the Israeli practices? (8th)

There is no right to exist of a state without borders on stolen land!

When the Berlin Interior Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD) in a TIME interview threatens to let BDS of the protection of the Constitution observed, even fundamental criticism of Israel in question, then he faces as well as many of his political colleagues against UN decisions and presents typically German, with a morally raised index finger to the side of peoples and human rights criminals of the “Jewish state”. What is your opinion, Senator Geisel, about the aims of the BDS movement? No, Mr. Geisel, there is no right of Israel, this state without borders on stolen land! If in Germany criticism of the “Jewish state” again and again points to historical contexts that prohibit us from supporting boycott decisions against Israel, that is unacceptable. Instead of “Do not buy with the Jew”, in reality, it must really read: “Do not buy from the Jewish occupier,” as I wrote. However, Geisel knows no qualms when it comes to Russia boycotts, a country that had to complain thanks to our “help” 27 million war dead. Even with Iran, we are fast in here, but this may not have nuclear weapons, because he allegedly threatened Israel with a “Holocaust” – while from traumatized policy out of the “Jewish State” any support – including in the form of armaments – is assured and being granted with impunity, being a nuclear power. After all, they need self-defense. (8th) that thanks to our “help” 27 million war dead had to complain. Even with Iran, we are fast in here, but this may not have nuclear weapons, because he allegedly threatened Israel with a “Holocaust” – while from traumatized policy out of the “Jewish State” any support – including in the form of armaments – is assured and being granted with impunity, being a nuclear power. After all, they need self-defense. (8th) that thanks to our “help” 27 million war dead had to complain. Even with Iran, we are fast in here, but this may not have nuclear weapons, because he allegedly threatened Israel with a “Holocaust” – while from traumatized policy out of the “Jewish State” any support – even in the form of armaments – is assured and being granted with impunity, being a nuclear power. After all, they need self-defense. (8th) Be nuclear power. After all, they need self-defense. (8th) Be nuclear power. After all, they need self-defense. (8th)

If, at the moment, this is once again demanded by the anti-Semitism commissioner of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Michel Blume, to revise or renew the Nakba exhibition, that would be a fake of history. There is nothing to correct for the “Nakba” and the scientifically flawless traveling exhibition “The Nakba – Flight and Expulsion of the Palestinians in 1948” about the catastrophe of the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians after and during the founding of the state of Israel. If, in the first anti-Semitism report of the country, the impression is given by Blume that without the correction the exhibition would be anti-Semitic, then this is a malicious insinuation which urgently needs a correction. I commend the anti-Semitism commissioner Blume, to freshen up his historical knowledge the book by Ilan Pappe “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”. I myself was allowed to open the Nakba exhibition in Tübingen in 2008 and had an accompanying event on the topic: “May the birthday of Israel be celebrated so uncritically against the backdrop of the Nakba”? (10)

This exhibition is so important and correct that it should become a permanent fixture throughout Germany. The path to the future begins with remembering, and so does Palestine and the Palestinians, who are still waiting for their legal right of return to Palestine.

There is nothing to celebrate for Jews who shut their eyes to the crimes of Zionist regimes

After only 86 years after the seizure of power and the persecution of the Jews, today Jews who bravely and uncomfortably participate in BDS and are calling for an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine are again marginalized as anti-Semites. In a Germany where philosemitism has replaced anti-Semitism, where open letters are negated by internationally recognized artists and scientists, one can not celebrate a Happy New Year 5780. There is nothing to celebrate for Jews who close their eyes to the crimes of Zionist regimes in the “Jewish state”. Only when Palestine is free and human rights and international law apply to all its citizens and refugees returned home, is there something to celebrate. For this we support together the BDS-movement with all strength and “last ink”, as Günter Grass wrote so impressively in his poem “What else must be said”. (11)

Much has to be said and done until Palestine is freed and Germany no longer excludes critical Jews and BDS supporters.

footnotes:

(1) https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-another-israel-the-rosh-hashanah-of-my-childhood-1.7917710

(2) https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/ghetto-ist-heute-ein-gebraeuchlicher-begriff.694.de.html?dram:article_id=64303

(3) http://www.bdssouthafrica.com/post/anglican-church-in-southern-africa-adopts-bds-boycott-of-israel/

(4) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/03/israel-treatment-palestinians-apartheid-south-africa

(5) http://sicht-vom-hochblauen.de/ich-kaempfte-gegen-die-suedafrikanische-apartheid-and-sehe-die-gleich-brutale-politik-in-israel-von-ronnie-kasrils/

(6) https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2019/kw20-de-bds-642892

(7) http://bds-kampagne.de/2019/09/23/offener-brief-zur-nichtvergabe-des-nelly-sachs-preises-thas-recht-auf-boykott/

(8) http://www.aachener-nachrichten.de/lokales/aachen/hat-walid-raad-verbindungen-zur-israelkritischen-bewegung-bds_aid-46196797%3foutput=amp

(9) https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2019-09/andreas-geisel-innensenator-berlin-bds-bewegung-verfassungsschutz

(10) https://www.attac-netzwerk.de/index.php?id=7582