German neo-Nazi parties aggressively push boycott of Israel

The party Die Rechte (The Right) used an election poster for the weekend's EU parliament vote stating: "Boycott Israel. Stop ethnic cleansing."

A supporter wears a T-shirt reading 'Boycott Israel' (photo credit: AFP/ MOHD RASFAN)
A supporter wears a T-shirt reading 'Boycott Israel'
(photo credit: AFP/ MOHD RASFAN)
Two neo-Nazi parties are stoking the flames of BDS, a sanctions campaign targeting Israel that was classified as antisemitic in May by the German federal parliament. A third neo-Nazi party attacked Israel on Twitter.
The party Die Rechte (The Right) used an election poster for the weekend’s EU parliament vote stating: “Boycott Israel. Stop ethnic cleansing.”

The neo-Nazi party’s election poster also said: “Stop land robbery and expulsion: 8 million Palestinians want their land back.” The poster also showed maps depicting alleged losses of Palestinian territory over decades.
The Right Party used a second election poster that invoked the 19th century antisemitic German historian Heinrich von Treitschke, replacing his slogan of “The Jews are our misfortune!” with “Israel is our misfortune!”
Ursula Haverbeck, 90, serves as The Right’s chairwoman. She is currently serving a two-year sentence for Holocaust denial, which is a criminal offense in Germany.
The newly released intelligence report from the southern German state of Bavaria cited the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment activities of the neo-Nazi party The Third Way. According to a review of the May Bavarian intelligence report by The Jerusalem Post, “The Third Way spreads on its website recommended actions to boycott Israel.” The intelligence document noted that The Third Way “recommends that [Israeli] products be boycotted and participation in events against the ‘criminal genocidal measures of the Zionists in the Middle East.’”
The Bavarian intelligence agency wrote that the neo-Nazi party urged a no-vote for “pro-Zionist parties.”
The third German neo-Nazi party, the National Democratic Party (NPD), previously called for a boycott. In 2009, Jürgen Rieger, a Holocaust denier and then-deputy chairman of the party, called on Germans to boycott Israel. According to the Bavarian intelligence report, the NPD federal association commented on the 70th year existence of Israel with the statement on May 14: “Israel is and remains the enemy of all peoples who struggle for national and social liberation.”
While The Right, The Third Way and the NPD did not enter the EU parliament, the last two did receive substantial votes on the regional and municipal levels. In the municipality of Gemeinde Reinhardtsdorf-Schöna near the city of Dresden in the state of Saxony, the NPD had the second best voter result.
The Third Way entered the town council in Plauen, Saxony. The Post reported on the party’s links to Hezbollah and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2017. In January, as a result of a long-running Post exposé, the online payment services PayPal and Leetchi closed the The Third Way’s accounts.
Uri Bollag contributed to this report.