The City Government Must Not Remain Silent in the Face of Anti-Semitism-(Bei Antisemitismus darf die Stadtregierung nicht schweigen)

(Translated from an article in "Weser Kurier" Stanpunkte:

I was there when the canard about the Israeli "apartheid" at the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban (South Africa) was born, shortly before the Eleventh September 11,2001. I saw a large anti-Israel rally and the boycott of Jewish "apartheid state" was called, in addition to the distribution of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and under a large poster, "Hitler was right". The situation was so charged that the police chief Jewish delegate said he could not guarantee their safety.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign was not invented to help the Palestinians, but to demonize Israel. BDS leads neither to peace nor reconciliation. We do not hear the outcry from BDS supporters against the crimes of the Iranian or North Korean governments. The situation in Tibet, Afghanistan and Syria does not interest them. Only democratic Israel serves as a target for such Draconian persecution.

Israel is a Jewish State which has been under military attack since the beginning. After 1967, Israel's enemies discovered that they can better sell their propaganda as a message of peace, rather than of war. So BDS is a weapon against Israel, it uses anti-Semitic memes and stokes anti-Semitism again. Germans must not fall for the deceptive message of peace and become manipulated into an instrument of attack against Israel.

Ensuring safety has much to do with spiritual assurance. Wrong thinking can destroy much. It is a noble desire to seek peace. The Torah teaches us to not only help our brother, but also our enemies or haters, and even the mule of our enemy. However, the love of neighbor must not lead to abuse of that consideration for enemies. Several examples drew international attention the other day, but it wasn't the kind of publicity that that the City of the Four Musicians* (*Bremen, based on an old German fairy tale) was looking for.

We want city policy to reflect this, not in vague terms, but concretely. While a group of retired anti-Semitic activists perpetuate anti-Israel propaganda at the Villa Vichon for the, "Friends of the City Government", the city government cannot remain silent, pay mere lip service or be content with just appeasing the press. It cannot just close its eyes.