No, the Federal Republic of Germany does not protect Jewish life

In his speech at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier declared, “We fight antisemitism! We resist the poison that is nationalism! We protect Jewish life! We stand with Israel!” He then added, “Here at Yad Vashem, I renew this promise before the eyes of the world.”

The German president was lying at Yad Vashem before the eyes of the world. Of course, Germany doesn’t do these things at all. We do not fight antisemitism. Instead, we introduce a yellow star for Jewish products.

We do not protect Jewish life. Instead, we provide the money that the Palestinian Authority channels as “martyr pay” to the imprisoned murderers of Jews and their families. And, sadly, Germany does not stand with Israel.

Who keeps voting for almost every resolution against Israel at the UN, thus taking care that this institution is abused by the dictators of the world to put a single country to the pillory, while the worst tyrants of the world are being granted a clean bill? Germany.

Who voted against a bill (introduced by the opposition Free Democrat Party) to reverse Germany’s anti-Israel voting record at the UN? The German government.

Who sent a congratulatory note to the Iranian regime that seeks the destruction of the Jewish state? Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president.

Who established a special purpose vehicle whose “special purpose” is to facilitate the Iranian regime’s trade with Europe? The German government.

Who bowed at the grave of Yasser Arafat and honored the arch-terrorist and murderer of countless Jewish civilians with a wreath? Once again, the German president.

The PA is providing a rich pension to any terrorist arrested for assaulting Israeli citizens. If the terrorist is killed in his own attack, the money is granted to his family. This bounty for Jewish civilians is being raised in part by German taxpayers.

In August 2019, just six days after the murder of 17-year-old Rina Shnerb, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Steinmeier welcomed Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin, the man who for years has incited to such murder, has praised the murderers as “heroes” and “martyrs,” and rewarded them with money. During his visit in Berlin, the German government boasted that Germany was the “biggest bilateral donor to the Palestinian territories .... Last year we granted 110 million euros.”

That amounts to more than a third of the 300 million euros the PA spends on rewarding the murderers of Jews.

THE GERMAN government can’t plead ignorance, for this matter has often enough been brought to its attention. There have been parliamentary inquiries by individual MPs of German opposition parties, by some German newspapers, and by Ayala Shapira.

Shapira is the Israeli girl who fell prey to a fire bomb attack in 2014 that seriously burned her face and body (she was 11 years old at that time). In 2017, she took it upon herself to travel to the European Parliament and give a speech in which she called upon the European governments to stop funding the killing of Jews. And yet, all these words fell on deaf ears.

German and European money is still being channeled to murderers like Hakim and Amjad Awad, who murdered the Fogel family in the infamous attack in Itamar.

Even a terrorist organization like Hezbollah – which has murdered Jews in Israel, Bulgaria and Argentina; which is pointing more than 130,000 missiles toward Israel and digging tunnels in order to abduct and kill Israeli citizens – is not prohibited in Germany, where it can raise funds and recruit members unimpeded.

“The spirits of evil are emerging in a new guise, presenting their antisemitic, racist, authoritarian thinking as an answer for the future, a new solution to the problems of our age,” Steinmeier said at Yad Vashem. Steinmeier seems to be a keen observer. Yet, when that newly guised spirit of evil stood right in front of him – such as Iran’s murderous ayatollah regime – Steinmeier smiled and shook its hands.

Many German and foreign columnists have praised Steinmeier’s speech at Yad Vashem. Don’t they see the blatant contrast between his words and Germany’s actions?

While talking about standing with Israel, the German government and President Steinmeier side with Israel’s enemies. In the international arena, they support every effort to demonize the Jewish state and make murderers respectable partners. While they talk about protecting Jewish lives, they see to it that those who incite and reward the murder of Jews never run out of money.

The wreath that President Steinmeier laid at the grave of Yasser Arafat and the one he laid at Yad Vashem in memory of the victims of the Holocaust were eerily similar. At one, it was a wreath with red gerbera, yellow chrysanthemums and a German flag for a murderer of Jews; at the other, it was a wreath with red and yellow roses and a German flag for murdered Jews.

The author is a German freelance writer.