German politician who said Israel executes Palestinians urged to resign

Social Democratic Union legislator accused of ‘making Jew-hatred respectable’.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Updated: OCTOBER 9, 2018 04:52
The German flag is pictured at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, November 7, 2017 (photo credit: REUTERS/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE)
The German flag is pictured at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, November 7, 2017
(photo credit: REUTERS/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE)
BERLIN – German politicians on Monday accused Bremen’s Senator of the Interior Ulrich Mäurer of antisemitism and urged him to resign after he said Israel executes Palestinians on the Gaza-Israel border.
“When I see that the Israeli Army is simply executing dozens of Palestinians at the border fence, I don’t understand that either. And I can understand all those who use this opportunity to express their opinions very clearly,” said Mäurer in the Bremen State Legislature on September 27. The 67-year-old politician said he would demonstrate for the Palestinians in light of Israel’s actions.
The vice president of the Christian Democratic Union Party in the Bundestag, Gitta Connemann, told Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper that Mäurer’s doubling-down on his anti-Israel comment “makes Jew-hatred respectable.” Connemann is also vice president of the German-Israel Friendship Society.
After Mäurer faced intense criticism on social media and from politicians, he told the Bremen paper Weser-Kurier, “In view of the deaths on the border, you have to understand when it comes to demonstrations and protests in response.”
Commentators in Germany noted that is unclear why a politician responsible for interior affairs expressed his view on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Bremen CDU deputy, Elisabeth Motschmann, told Bild, “We are fighting antisemitism in our country and surprisingly an interior senator expresses himself antisemitically.”
The vice president of the Free Democratic Party in the Bundestag, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, told the newspaper that Mäurer’s remarks were “nonsense” and that he should “apologize in a letter to Israel’s ambassador.” Lambsdorff also urged  Mäurer to go to southern Israel to see the security situation on the border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Nesrin Kök-Evcil, a spokesperson for Mäurer wrote the Post by email, that to accuse “Senator Ulrich Mäurer of antisemitism is absurd.”
Kök-Evcil said that the senator “dealt with the history of the National Socialists and as interior senator investigated the role of the police in the Holocaust.” The spokesperson said  Mäurer’s criticism of Israel was “perhaps not formulated well.”
Nesrin Kök-Evcil, a spokesperson for Mäurer wrote the Post by email, that to accuse “Senator Ulrich Mäurer of antisemitism is absurd.”
Kök-Evcil said that the senator “dealt with the history of the National Socialists and as interior senator investigated the role of the police in the Holocaust.” The spokesperson said  Mäurer’s criticism of Israel was “perhaps not formulated well.”
The US, EU and Germany classify the Islamic organization Hamas as a terrorist entity. Israel has accused Hamas of deploying rioters to cross the border in order to seek out Israelis to murder.
Bild said Social Democratic politicians were cautiously defending Mäurer. The head of the Green Party in Bremen, Alexandra Werwath, described Mäurer’s statement on Twitter as the “spreading of antisemitic lies.” Bild reported that the Christian Democratic politician Claas Rohmeyer, along with Free Democratic politicians in Bremen, urged Mäurer to resign.
The city-state of Bremen has garnered a reputation over the year as being one of the most hostile environments for the State of Israel, including potent boycott, divestment and sanctions activity against the Jewish state from BDS groups in Bremen, and pro-Hezbollah fund-raising and recruitment.
The Post reported in June that Bremen’s Al-Mustafa Community Center is a major hub for raising funds for Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to a German intelligence report reviewed by the Post.
The Bremen intelligence agency stated, “The Al-Mustafa-Community Center supports Hezbollah in Lebanon, especially by collecting donations.” The Post uncovered the Shi’ite organization’s bank account at the Bremen-based Sparkasse Bank. The Bremen intelligence agency, roughly equivalent to Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), said there are approximately 60 Hezbollah supporters in Al-Mustafa and that “the Arab-Shi’ite association functions as a point of contact for Shi’ite Muslims in Bremen, especially those from Lebanon.”
The intelligence document did not cite the amount of funds transferred from Hezbollah supporters in Bremen to Hezbollah in Lebanon.