German Chacellor Olaf Scholz, 65, joined the chorus of Western leaders condemning Hamas’ rampage on innocent civilians Oct. 7-8 at a music festival and Kibbutzes near the Gaza border, killing 1,200 Israelis, at least 260 at a music festival and taking about 100 hostages. When Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] got to the grisly scene, they witnssed a degree of depravity not seen since ISIS and Nazi atrocities in WW II. Scholz was deeply affected by the repetition of unspeakable atoricities by Adolf Hilter’s Thrid Reich. Speaking at a plenary session of the German Bundestag [parliament] in Berlin, he expressed his outrage committed by Hamas terrorists in Israel. Scholz told German MPs that he would ban all Hamas-linked groups in Germany, making it a crime for any group to support terrorism as a practice to achieve political ends. Scholz said there is “zero tolerance” for anti-Semitism in Germany.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 69, had her run-ins with anti-Semites during her time as in office [2005-2-21]. She once told 65-year-old former Iranian President Mahmoud Mahmoud Ahmadined that Germany would not tolerate a planned Holocaust deniers conference in Tehran. Merkel told Ahmadinejad there’s no denial in Germany of what happened to Jews in the Nazi era. Yet that didn’t stop Ahamadinejad from saying the Iran agrees with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution,that “Israel should be wiped off the map.” Scholz told the Bundestag that he would enforce a ban on all groups backing Hamas “with all means that our defensible constitutional state offers.” Scholz has close relations to 73-year-old Israeli Preime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hamas’ rampage was timed with Israel’s normalization talks with Saudi Arabia.
Under the Trump administration, Israel and Arab Gulf States signed the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with states with long histories of hostility to Israel since its founding in 1948. Pallestinians were furious that the U.S. government under former President Donald Trump completed diplomatic relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates [UAE]. Palestinians want the Arab world to continue its state of war with Israel, the same as in 1967 during the “Six Day War,” when Palestinians joined with six other Arab countries to destroy Israel. When the war ended June 10, 1967, Israel had defeated the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, something they’re not interested in repeating. Palestinians have burnt many bridges with Arab states because of their refusal to make serious peace with Israel, especially Hamas that seeks to destroy Israel and kill all Jews.
Scholz made the German position clear to all that it would not tolerate anti-Semitism and seek to defend Israel from attacks on its sovereignty. “These means expressly include bans on associations and activities. The Federal Ministry of the Interior will issue a ban on Hamas activities in Germany,” Scholz said, largely because they’re attached to Iran that openly calls for Israel’s destruction. Student Palestinian activists at Harvard and other college campuses don’t get that Hamas expressly calls in its charter for the destruction of Israel and killing of Jews. Iran’s leaders routinely use Nazi-like rhetoric, committing the government to Hilter’s Final Solution, the extermination of all Jews worldwide. Scholz left no room for doubt in Germany that it was a close ally of Israel that stands against anti-Semitism. Schoz, and Merkel before him, stand against any form of anti-Semitism or hatred of Israel.
Scholz sets the right standard for world leaders forced to deal with the latest Mideast War. Netanyahu made clear, after forming a coalition war government, that Israel would meet its responsibility to, once and for all, get rid of Hamas in Gaza. Israel has fought four wars with Hamas since they wrested control June 14, 2007 of Gaza from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority [PA]. West Bank-based PA President Mahmoud Abbas, 87, pretends he rejects Hamas violence. But when asked about recent atrocities on the Gaza border, all Abbas could say is he deplores violence. Abbas lets Hamas, like his predecessor Yasser Arafat, do the dirty work for Palestinians. Atrocities committed by Hamas do nothing to advance the Palestinian cause, only make a two-state solution and peace impossible. Gulf Arab States are sick of Hamas’ destructive wars with Israel, costing Gulf States billions.
Palestinian protesters make it more difficult to advance civil and human rights for all people living in the Holy Land. Massacre and slaughter perpetrated by Hamas only adds to the misery of citizens living under Hamas control. If Palestinians wanted to advance their civil and human rights they would sign a peace treaty with Israel renouncing armed resistance and violence as a means to achieve political aims. “At this moment, there is only one place for Germany—the place at Israel’s side,” Scholz told the Bundestag. “Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust makes it a perpetual task for us to stand up for the security of the state of Israel,” Scholz said. If Palestinains pledged the same thing, they would find their society beginning to prosper. Commiting atrocities in the name of resistance or Palestinian liberation only makes the goal of human and civil rights more impossible.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
