“After the unspeakably brutal attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians on 7 October 2023, on defenceless women, men, children, babies and the elderly, Jews worldwide must once again fear for their safety. They are being threatened, attacked, assaulted. Even in Germany.
It is not only the jubilation about the actions of Hamas on German streets that is appalling and shameful. It is deeply disturbing and depressing that so many Jews are denied any sympathy in the face of the terrorist attack with 1, 400 victims. They experience coldness and indifference, relativisation, blame, criticism. From politics, from the population. The war in the Middle East reveals the extent of the problem of anti-Semitism in Germany.
Everyone is called upon to oppose and contradict this behaviour. If we allow crimes against humanity not to be outlawed and condemned without any restrictions because they hit Israel, because they hit Jews, a red line has been crossed.
This is not about being pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, but about non-negotiable values. Those who do not acknowledge them by naming the Hamas attack without qualification for what it is – sheer, brutal terror against which every state in the world must protect its citizens – but relativise it, must allow themselves to be asked whose actions and whose anti-democratic goals they are inevitably supporting.”
Sabine Schicketanz, Editor-in-Chief Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten, M100 Advisory Board
