Germany's turn in the presidency of the EU and as leader of the UN Security Council started last Wednesday with an astonishing event: the Bundestag in Berlin discussing Israel's plans to apply sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and settlements in Judea and Samaria. The government still hasn't decided what it's going to do, but the Bundestag is already holding debates and making decisions that warn Israel lest it take any "annexation" steps. Germany's intervention in Israel's internal affairs has never been more blatant. Of all the burning issues in the international arena, once again – only Israel is up for discussion in the Bundestag.
Two German opposition members of Iranian descent noted on Wednesday that the Bundestag never bothered to hold any special discussion or adopt any resolution condemning Iran's threats to Israel or the Islamic Republic regime's violations of human rights. Speeches from right-wing opposition factions – primarily Alternative for Germany, which Israel officially is still boycotting – stressed the fact that while Germany and the EU were using Israel as a punching bag, they refrained from any criticism of the Palestinians and their leadership, which is blocking any progress toward a peace deal.
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That was a minority opinion. But it was backed up by German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas' recent warning against Israel taking unilateral steps, while ignoring any of the unilateral steps the Palestinians have taken in recent years, in violation of the Oslo Accords. He also ignored violations of the Oslo Accords by the EU and Germany, as expressed by their support for the illegal Bedouin settlement Khan al-Ahmar.
The peak of the bizarre performance in the Bundestag was a speech by a senior member of the far-left party Die Linke. Gregor Gysi, a former communist whose father was Jewish, called on the German government to respond to any Israeli "annexation" by stopping all cooperation with Israel on security and defense issues; stopping weapons sales, and recognizing a Palestinian state.
Gysi said that many of the world's Jews were "embarrassed" that Israel was involved in violations of international law, occupation, and the "humiliation of the Palestinians."
"Implementing the annexation will give Israel a bad name in the world. That's something that affects all Jews. Neither they nor Israel will be any safer through the annexation plan," he said.
According to the international definition of anti-Semitism, justifying attacks on the security of Jews worldwide because of any steps Israel might take is anti-Semitism. The disgraceful sight of a person of Jewish descent standing in the Bundestag and making a speech with anti-Semitic undertones was salvaged by an Iranian member of the Green Party pointing out that "anti-Semites don't need Israeli policy to be anti-Semites."
Gysi's performance underscores yet another aspect of the insanity that has engulfed Israeli-German relations: when the radical Die Linke [The Left] party – whose members support boycott of Israel, took part in the Marmara flotilla to the Gaza Strip, and which has never confronted its anti-Semitic past – entered the Bundestag 15 years ago, Israel crawled to it to launch dialogue. But the far-right Alternative for Germany party, whose senior parliamentary representatives voice rare pro-Israel positions, including Israel's right to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, the Israeli diplomatic establishment prefers to give it the cold shoulder.
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