August 25, 2019 | The Jerusalem Post
German Jews slam Merkel’s FM for belittling Palestinian terrorist attack
Daniel Botmann, the executive director of the nearly 100,000 Central Council of Jews in Germany, wrote on Twitter: “Dear Foreign Ministry, the Tweet has a mistake."
August 25, 2019 | The Jerusalem Post
German Jews slam Merkel’s FM for belittling Palestinian terrorist attack
Daniel Botmann, the executive director of the nearly 100,000 Central Council of Jews in Germany, wrote on Twitter: “Dear Foreign Ministry, the Tweet has a mistake."
A German foreign ministry statement unleashed a storm of criticism from German Jews because the diplomatic comment played down the role of Palestinian terrorism in the murder of 17-year-old Rina Shenrav and injuries to her father and brother on Friday.
Daniel Botmann, the executive director of the nearly 100,000 member Central Council of Jews in Germany, wrote on Twitter: “Dear Foreign Ministry, the Tweet has a mistake. The end should read, ‘and we are working to stop such terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli civilians.’ Israel, reason of state”.
Botmann’s reference to “reason of state” was connected to German Chancellor Angela Merkel claiming in the Israeli Knesset in 2008 that the Jewish state is part of Germany’s national security or reason of state.
Botmann’s tweet was in response to the foreign ministry Tweet: “We strongly condemn such acts of violence, as well as instigating them or justifying them. The Federal Government is committed to overcoming the spiral of violence and hatred and to maintaining the perspective of a two-state solution that will enable all Israelis and Palestinians to live a life of peace and security.”
The Social Democratic Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has been embroiled in multiple antisemitism scandals since assuming the position in 2018. Maas’s Foreign Ministry celebrated the antisemitic regime of Iran at a February event at Tehran’s embassy in Berlin.
The anti-BDS activist and German Jew Malca Goldstein-Wolf wrote on Twitter: “Sigmar Gabriel was bad, but he made no secret of his… antisemitic sentiment, Heiko Maas on the other hand is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a hypocrite of the worst kind… I am ashamed for this foreign minister!”
Social Democratic politician Sigmar Gabriel preceded Maas as foreign minister and was praised by the jihadi terrorist organization Hamas for terming Israel an “apartheid regime.”
Germany’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Jerusalem Post press query on Saturday.
Benjamin Weinthal is a European correspondent at The Jerusalem Post and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.