Shoved to Them
You would think that the German government would have learned from the mistakes of the past. You would think that the events of World War II would have shown them that racism isn’t a good thing. You would think that dislike of the Jews would have purged itself in the cataclysmic end of the Nazi regime. You would think so, but you would be wrong.
German police in Duisburg and Düsseldorf, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, prohibited residents from displaying Israeli flags. Hamas flags are okay according to a court in Berlin, as were Hamas clothing and banners. Only Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar’s call to murder Israeli children worldwide was upheld.
According to the Jerusalem Post:
During an anti-Israeli demonstration organized by the radical Islamic group, Milli Görüs, which attracted 10,000 protesters last Saturday in Duisburg, two police officers stormed the apartment of a 25-year-old student and his 26-year-old girlfriend and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and inside a window.
The pro-Hamas protesters cheered “Alluha Akbar” as the German police ripped the Israeli flag out of the window.
…When asked if the Duisburg police plan to confiscate Israeli flags from supporters who demonstrate against an anti-Israeli protest slated for this coming Saturday, Ramon van der Maat, a Duisburg police spokesman, told The Jerusalem Post that, “we have to see what is expected” at the protest, adding, “It depends on the situation and one cannot, across the board” say that Israeli flags will be permitted.
The Düsseldorf flag ban occurred during a demonstration earlier this month. The flag-wavers were taken into police custody.
Meanwhile, anti-Semitic violence directed at Jewish institutions is spreading across Germany. A Palestinian man assaulted a police employee Wednesday with an iron bar, as the latter was guarding a synagogue in the district of Mitte in Berlin. According to media reports, the attack is linked to Israel’s Gaza operation.
In the northeastern city of Rostock, police are investigating attacks on a Jewish community center which serves the small community of 1,000.
Assailants threw rocks at the windows of the center more than a week ago and a crossed-out Star of David was daubed on the building a week before that.
Fortunately, this anti-Semitic sentiment is being condemned by higher-ups in the German government.
Duisburg Police Chief Rolf Cebin posted a statement on the police Web site on Wednesday, saying “I deeply regret that feelings, especially those of our Jewish fellow citizens, were hurt.
“The removal of the flags was, as we see it today, the wrong decision,” Cebin said. “The situation was very heated and the officers wanted to avert harm to the participants, including the residents of the apartment. They acted with the best of intentions in a tricky situation, under considerable time pressure, in order, from their point of view, to prevent an escalation.”
I pray that the good people of Germany wake up the returning creep of racism among their populace. I hope that they realize that appeasement is not the answer. Hatred is not the answer. Giving in to mobs is not the answer. They must demand of those who choose to live in their country that they treat all citizens with respect and acknowledge that although others may hold opposing views, they must be allowed to do so without fear. They must demand equality for their citizens of all faiths and racial backgrounds. Period.
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