Israel’s ambassador shocked over PFLP terrorist speech in Berlin

Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, expressed shock on Wednesday over the scheduled talk of convicted PFLP terrorist Rasmea Odeh.

“We are shocked that a convicted Palestinian terrorist, who is personally responsible for the murder of two students in a supermarket, was invited to speak in Berlin,” Issacharoff was quoted as saying in the daily Berlin-based B.Z. newspaper. “Ironically [this is happening] in Berlin, a city that stands for tolerance and freedom and has now written the fight against antisemitism on the flags.”

Issacharoff reacted following press queries by The Jerusalem Post.

The diplomat, who has stressed that he likes to work behind closed doors, said: “We are certain that German society will draw a redline here and oppose the incitement to hatred.”

Odeh is slated speak at an event in Berlin on Friday, organized by a reportedly antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) alliance organization targeting Israel. Germany’s Interior Ministry run by the Christian Social Union politician Horst Seehofer, the Foreign Ministry and the Berlin State Senate all told the Post on Tuesday that they can’t intervene to stop Odeh’s visit to Berlin.

However, the Italian government stopped convicted PFLP terrorist Leila Khaled in 2017 from entering its territory, according to David Gerstman, who noted the denial of her entry on the website of The Tower.

For Odeh to travel to Germany, the German authorities in Jordan where she is based likely issued her a visa.

Khaled, who tours Europe to promote BDS, was involved in two plane hijackings.

Post queries to the Interior Ministry and Germany’s social democratic foreign minister Heiko Maas on Thursday were not immediately returned.

Cornelia Seibeld, spokeswoman for the Christian Democratic Union’s party for the topic of integration in the city-state of Berlin, wrote on her website: “The Senate must stop immediately the appearance of the Palestinian terrorist.”

When pressed by the Post as to whether the Berlin Senate’s Judiciary, Consumer and Anti-Discrimination department believes that the Interior Ministry and the foreign affairs department should block Odeh’s entry, Sebastian Brux, a spokesman for the department, refused to comment. Brux said the Senate’s Judiciary department cannot prevent Odeh’s entry into Germany. He added that the department expects the authorities to use their legal options to “prevent antisemitic agitation our city.”

The department sponsors programs designed to combat antisemitism in Berlin. In response to the Post article on Odeh, the Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted on Wednesday: “Memo to German Government 2019: Violating moral obligation to do no harm to Jews. Why is Merkel’s Minister permitting terrorists to enter and speak at antisemitic BDS event?”

Benjamin Weinthal is a European correspondent at The Jerusalem Post and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.