A pro-Palestinian conference planned for Saturday in Berlin has been criticised by Jewish organisations and German politicians because of alleged ties to Hamas. Around 3,000 supporters from all over Europe will attend with several European officials expected to make an appearance at the Berlin Arena.
The 13th Conference of Palestinians in Europe, which takes place at a different location every year, has also come under fire from human rights supporters because Hamas, which openly seeks the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, shares anti-Semitic goals that were also commonly expressed by Nazi Germany.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the head of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor watchdog organization, told The Jerusalem Post,
“This is a direct pro-Hamas and anti-peace event, with the participation of hard-core Palestinian, British, and German supporters of rejectionism and incitement against Israel. The sponsors are reportedly Hamas-front organizations, and the published list of participants include [British] MP Tessa Munt, a radical supporter of demonization and BDS,” said Steinberg.
“There is no justification for Germany giving legitimacy to any event in support of terrorists that are waging an immoral war against Israel, with thousands of rockets directed at civilians.”
The Palestinian Community of Germany (PGD) and the London-based Palestinian Return Center (PRC) are understood to be the organizers of the event.
According to news website Breitbart, both organisations have deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which includes Hamas, as the terror group’s charter states that Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The PRC has many ties to the Global Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas and current and past PRC directors have also been directors of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), a part of the UK Muslim Brotherhood,” reports The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch.
Domestically, some within Germany’s Jewish community have been deeply disturbed by Berlin choosing to host the anti-Israel event, whose conference logo features a banner showing the State of Israel, but filled with Palestinian flags.
Last week, Reinhold Robbe, the head of the German-Israel friendship society, wrote an article in a German paper titled, “Resistance against pro-Hamas conference,” where he stated, “Whoever in Germany attacks Israel and contests Israel’s right to exist should not be allowed a platform here.”
Green Party MP Volker Beck,who is the chairman of the German-Israel parliamentary group, told the Jerusalem Post,“This conference serves neither peace in Middle East nor the legitimate interests of the Palestinians and Israelis toward peace and security. Quite the contrary: Prejudices will be stoked [at the conference] and possibly,in the worst cases, terrorism and violence of Hamas will be legitimized or glorified.”
Jana Seifert ,a spokeswoman for the Berlin Arena, the meeting location for the conference, said that “no incitement to hate or calls to violence” will be allowed to take place. She said the authorities informed the Berlin Arena that they are not aware that “Hamas is agitating under the disguise of the organization” at the conference and defended the anti-Israeli event as falling under freedom of speech.
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(Jerusalem Post and Breitbart have been sourced in this article)
