Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman sharply rebuked German Chancellor Olaf Sholz for stating his administration would arrest the Prime Minister in response to an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, sparking a rare public spat between two allies during the Gaza war.
“I am old enough to remember the German leader coming here days after Oct. 7, and stating the Hamas are the new Nazis. They seek a genocide against the Jews. Many in the world need to check their moral compass and be on the right side of history.” Avi Hyman, told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said on Wednesday, in response to a question whether the German government would execute an ICC arrest order against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes during Israel’s efforts to defeat the Hamas terrorist movement in the Gaza Strip, “Of course. Yes, we abide by the law.”
Germany’s comment about executing the ICC order to arrest the prime minister electrified social media and critics accused Scholz’s administration of antisemitism for its fealty to an arrest warrant from a reportedly anti-Israel court that Netanyahu termed another example of the “new antisemitism.”
Accusations of antisemitism
The German Christian Democratic Union party leader, Friedrich Merz, told the country’s largest paper, Bild, that “The silence of the federal government, including the government spokesman’s suggestion that Netanyahu could be arrested on German soil, is now really becoming a scandal.”
Scholz is from the left-of-center Social Democratic Party, whose members and party leaders have targeting Israel for more criticism than the conservative political parties in the Bundestag. Merz said the ICC comparison between the terrorist Hamas organization and the Netanyahu is “an absurd perpetrator-victim reversal.”
After Israeli government spokeswoman, Tal Heinrich, sharply criticized the alleged antisemitic German civil servant, Michael Blume, in a comment to the Jerusalem Post, Blume blamed the Jewish state for rising antisemitism in Germany.
Blume, who is tasked with fighting antisemitism in the state of Baden-Württemberg, told the German media wire service DPA on Friday that Israel’s government is responsible for antisemitism because of its efforts to root out Hamas terrorists.
Blume said, according to the German media, Netanyahu is doing the fight against antisemitism a disservice with his behavior. Blume added “We clearly notice that Israel-related antisemitism is increasing sharply.”
The anti-Israel official, Blume, noted “Right-wing extremists from Israel, the USA and Europe, but also the Netanyahu government, use the accusation of antisemitism in an inflationary way and exploit it – that doesn’t help us at all if we want to fight antisemitism honestly.”
Roman Haller, a Holocaust survivor who lives in Munich who was the former Director of the Jewish Claims Conference, sent The Post on Sunday a statement he wrote to Blume: “Your recent statement regarding the attribution of antisemitism is outrageous and leaves me speechless as a Holocaust survivor who is used to some things.”
“Your statement not only counteracts the constant assurances of the State of Israel’s right to defend itself, but also encourages the very people against whom you, especially as an antisemitism commissioner, should fight. Because what you are saying is pure antisemitism.”
Haller wrote Blume embraced the frequently cited antisemitic charge against Jews that the “The Jews have themselves to blame for antisemitism.” Haller added “With your statements you are not only depriving Israel of the right to defend itself, but you are also pandering to those who want to wipe out Israel.
I expect a clear apology from you. However, if you stick with your unspeakable accusations, you will be unacceptable for the fight against antisemitism.”
The governor of Baden-Württemberg, the Green Party, Winfried Kretschmann, has defended and tolerated Blume’s repeated attacks on Jews and Israel over the years, say critics and experts on antisemitism. The Post reported in 2017 that Kretschmann provided government funds to a pro-BDS and antisemitic Lutheran minister, Mitri Raheb, in Bethlehem.
Heinrich, the Israeli government spokeswoman, told The Post on Tuesday about Blume that “One of the very first statements of the PM in the beginning of the war – right after October 7 – underscored that this is a time for moral clarity. Comments that we have seen from Mr. Blume in the past about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and throughout this war demonstrate that he often lacks moral clarity. “
Heinrich added, “Whether or not he should stay in his role is not in my place to say. But generally speaking, when you’re on a mission to fight antisemitism you have to be able to clearly differentiate between good and evil. There’s no grey zone when it comes to the hatred of Jews.”
Blume and Kretschmann’s administration have been embroiled in a series of antisemitism scandals over the years. Martin Widerker, the former head of the Jewish community in Stuttgart and a prominent Zionist and Jewish leader for 40 years, told the Post Blume is antisemitic and should resign.
Two German courts have ruled that Blume can be termed antisemitic because of he compared German Jews to Nazis and denigrated the father of the IDF, Orde Wingate, as a “war criminal.” Blume endorsed a call on X for Netanyahu to “tear down” the security fence in Judea and Samaria that prevents Palestinian terrorism attacks against Jews.
He termed German Jews “right-wing extremists” in a German radio interview.
Israel’s former ambassador to the US and ex-MK, Michael Oren, Christian United for Israel, General Amir Avivi, the CEO of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), the Zionist Organization of America, Jewish War Veterans of America, Col. Richard Kemp from the United Kingdom, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and other America Jewish and Israeli organizations have all urged Blume to be dismissed or resign from his post. The LA-based Simon Wiesenthal Center cited Blume two times in its reports on the worst outbreaks of antisemitism.
The Post sent press queries to Kretschmann, Blume and Thomas Strobl, the interior minister of Baden-Württemberg. Post press queries were also sent to the leaders of the Jewish communities in Baden-Württtemberg, Barbara Traub and Rami Suliman.
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