Humanitarian situation in Gaza 'beyond imagination': German FM

from Daily Sabah

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is "beyond imagination," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday, ramping up the pressure on Israel to act quickly as criticism mounts over its atrocities in the Palestinian enclave.

"The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination," Wadephul said at a press conference after meeting top Israeli officials.

Israel must "quickly and safely send sufficient humanitarian and medical aid to avoid mass deaths" as a result of starvation, he said, calling it "absolutely intolerable" that "men, women and children were killed every day whilst desperately searching for food."

Israel is under mounting international pressure to agree a cease-fire and allow a surge in food aid into the Gaza Strip, where U.N.-backed experts have reported "famine is now unfolding."

Canada on Wednesday became the latest Western government to announce plans to recognize a Palestinian state, after similar moves from France and Britain.

Germany has held off promising to recognize Palestinian statehood and maintained its long-standing position that recognition could come only after negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians...

read more here 

Guilty (C.J. Hopkins)

 'In 2022, (Hopkins) tweeted pictures of the cover of his essay-collection The Rise of the New Normal Reich (2022). The cover included a swastika, and he was charged according to German law regarding "propaganda, the contents of which are intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization." Reporter James Kirchick commented that "One can call his method of argument likening anti-COVID policies to Nazism misguided, intellectually lazy, or tasteless—I personally find it to be all three—but endorsing "the aims" of National Socialism it is not." Wikipedia

by C.J. Hopkins

So, the Berlin Appellate Court overturned my acquittal today. I am now, officially, at least according to the New Normal German authorities, a “hate-speech” criminal. I’m officially a “hate-speech” criminal because I compared New Normal Germany to Nazi Germany, and I challenged the official Covid narrative, and I used the cover art of my book to do it.

The New Normal German authorities didn’t like that, and were determined to punish me for doing that, and to make an example of me, in order to discourage other people from doing that. It took them two tries, but they pulled it off. The judge in my original trial screwed up and acquitted me, but the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s office didn’t give up. They appealed the verdict — yes, they can do that in Germany — and this morning the Appellate Court overturned the verdict and declared me guilty.

I’ll report on all the ugly details of my day in court in a proper column sometime later this week, when I’ve sufficiently recovered from the hangover I am currently about to start working on.

I’ll also be resurrecting my legal defense fund and telling you about that in my next column, because the only recourse my attorney and I have left at this point is to try to get the German Constitutional Court (i.e., Germany’s supreme court) to hear the case...

read more here

Outrage after German police detain 10-year-old at Gaza protests

from Daily Sabah

Social media users were outraged Sunday over the detention of a 10-year-old boy by German police during a pro-Palestine protest.

Footage on X showed several German police officers in Berlin chasing the boy as bystanders tried to shield him. The police eventually surround the boy and escort him to the police car.

Social media users on X harshly condemned the incident.

"Berlin police detained a 10-year-old boy for carrying a Palestinian flag. Disturbing, shameful, 2024 Germany," said one user.

"Brave Berlin police arrested the most dangerous child in the city. He wanted to use his flag to overthrow the federal government and declare a Palestinian state,” another user wrote in a sarcastic post.

"Berlin police chased a ten-year-old boy. There are no words to say," one more X user said...

read more here

Germany increases aid to Gaza, urges Israel to halt provocation

from Daily Sabah

Germany, which has been a staunch supporter of Israel as it carries out genocidal attacks on the Gaza Strip, said it would announce humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza by €50 million ($55 million), its Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who's currently visiting Jordan, said Thursday. The top German diplomat also condemned Tel Aviv's attempts to further destabilize the Middle East.

Baerbock, speaking at a meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi, said Germany has now pledged more than €360 million since last year to Gazans.

The focus of the latest aid push is combating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, along with the provision of health services as Israel destroys civilian infrastructure in its ruthless attacks.

In addition, humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees in Jordan is to be increased by €12.7 million, raising German aid to Jordan to €63 million over the course of 2024...

read more here

Germany defends Israeli massacre at Gaza school

(Imagine that. The birthplace of the Nazis side with the genocidal Zionists in Israel. Go figure.)

from RT

The IDF airstrike on the Tabeen school in Gaza that reportedly killed 100 Palestinians was legitimate self-defense because Hamas uses civilians as human shields, the German government has said.

Saturday’s attack on the facility, which served as a shelter for displaced persons, has been described as the deadliest since the start of the current conflict.

“Israel has the right to defend itself. The reality is that Hamas uses schools, hospitals and kindergartens as command centers and that the people in the Gaza Strip are also abused against their will as protective shields,” Wolfgang Buechner, deputy spokesman for the German government, told reporters in Berlin on Monday.

Buechner also urged journalists to “be very careful about sitting on one-sided reports that are distributed by Hamas and believing everything that is spread by this side.”...

read more here

Media publishes Germany’s alleged war plan

from RT

The German Defense Ministry has drawn up contingency plans for a potential military conflict with Russia, Der Spiegel and Bild have reported. The document reportedly envisages Germany serving a key role as a transit state for NATO troops, with its population and civil services being expected to assist foreign military personnel.

Last month, the German government officially updated its wartime guidelines for the first time since 1989, which now include such measures as mandatory conscription and forcing manufacturers to produce war goods...

read more here

German foreign minister says she saw nonexistent 7 Oct. rape video

 (Remember Biden saying he had seen images of the 40 beheaded babies? Vichy collaborators lie. That's what they do.)

from Electronic Intifada

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock claimed on Sunday that she saw a video filmed by a member of Hamas of an Israeli woman being raped on 7 October 2023.

But such a video does not exist...

Since Israel began propagating the 7 October mass rape hoax, at no point has any official Israeli source claimed that a video exists of any rape in progress.

This was confirmed in an article in Haaretz last month.

“From inquiries put to three bodies in the defense establishment by Haaretz, it emerges that the intelligence material collected by the police and the intelligence bodies, including footage from terrorists’ body cameras, does not contain visual documentation of any acts of rape themselves,” the Tel Aviv newspaper stated.

The UN team headed by Pramila Patten also reviewed thousands of photos and videos provided by the Israeli government and concluded in its report published in March that “in the medicolegal assessment of available photos and videos, no tangible indications of rape could be identified.”

Despite the UN report’s pro-Israel biases, it also confirms that “no digital evidence specifically depicting acts of sexual violence was found in open sources.”...

read more here

No reason to recognize Palestinian state: Germany's Scholz

 (He ignores the June 1967 accord which set the Green Line borders of Israel and Palestine which the vast majority of the world recognize. He does this because, like the Americans, he suggests he is waiting for Israel and Palestine to 'negociate' new borders which will allow for Zionist Israel to keep much of the land they have stolen since 1967. Of course, important to that process is making Palestine's negotiation position as weak as possible. Scumbag)

from Daily Sabah

The Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, said Berlin – which is accused of facilitating Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza – has no plans to recognize Palestine as a state, contrary to the decision of three European countries to do so.

There is "no reason” to recognize the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a separate state, Scholz said Friday in response to a question by a journalist at a news conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.

"There is no clarity about the national territory or about all other questions that are related to it,” Scholz said while adding it’s "not that far yet.”

He reiterated the need for "a negotiated solution between Israel and the Palestinians that amounts to a two-state solution,” which he said also includes a Palestinian Authority that is responsible for the West Bank and Gaza.

"But we’re not there yet,” said Scholz, adding that now it is about "achieving a longer-term ceasefire" and "ensuring that everyone involved commits to the two-state solution"...

read more here

Punched, choked, kicked: German police crack down on student protests

from al Jazeera

 

“We are witnessing a great endangerment of academic freedom – and this has started since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza,” says Cecilia, an undergraduate student at Berlin’s Free University.

After her university published what she saw as a one-sided statement of support for Israel following the Hamas attacks of October 7, and students on campus began to experience an increase in Islamophobic harassment on campus, she and others formed a committee to show solidarity with Palestine and oppose Israel’s war in Gaza.

At universities across Germany, thousands of students like her have mobilised in support of Palestine, leading demonstrations, organising lectures and sit-ins occupying university buildings and campus lawns. They have also opposed the speeches of visiting Israeli officials – notably Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor who visited Cologne University in January and the Israeli judge, Daphne Barak-Erez who spoke at Humboldt University in February.

But students and university staff also say that their right to free expression has come under assault from hostile media coverage, repressive legal measures taken by universities and politicians, and the use of police violence against peaceful demonstrators.

“Staff, teachers and students who have been trying to objectively teach and raise their voice about what is happening in Gaza and Palestine have been systematically repressed,” says Cecilia...

read more here

German president says two-state solution key to lasting peace in Middle East

from Daily Sabah

Germany agrees with Türkiye that lasting peace in the Middle East will be possible through a two-state solution, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Friday, referring to the Palestinian issue.

“Every minute of my visit to Türkiye was valuable and constructive,” Steinmeier told Turkish reporters following his three-day stay in the country.

"For me, coming to Türkiye on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of our diplomatic relations was very significant," he added.

The two countries enjoy good commercial ties though they differ on several issues, namely Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, Türkiye’s long-stalled EU membership and the pursuit of Eurofighter jets.

Noting that both countries are NATO allies and G-20 members, Steinmeier stated: "As Türkiye and Germany, we are indispensable to each other; we need each other."...

read more here

Germany to resume working with UNRWA following review

 (Yet another IDF lie bites the dust)

from Daily Sabah

Germany has followed the footsteps of several other Western donors to resume support to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

The decision Wednesday comes after a review found Israel had not yet provided evidence that hundreds of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were members of Palestinian resistance groups.

Israel alleged in January that some UNRWA employees may have participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

In the weeks that followed, numerous donor states, including Germany, suspended or paused some $450 million in funding.

Many, including Sweden, Canada and Japan had since resumed funding...

read more here

Nicaragua closes embassy in Berlin after suing Germany over Gaza genocide

from Press TV

Nicaragua has shut down its embassy in Germany after taking the West European country to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for facilitating Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Nicaragua announced the closure of its diplomatic mission in Berlin on Wednesday, noting that the Central American state’s consular tasks and official businesses in Germany will now be handled by the embassy in Austria.

Managua recently announced the accreditation of its ambassador in Vienna, Sabra Amari Murillo Centeno, as a concurrent representative in Germany.

Earlier this week, hearings opened in the ICJ, with Nicaragua saying Germany is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention by providing Israel with military and financial aid, as well as suspending funding to the main UN humanitarian agency in Gaza, UNRWA.

Asking The Hague-based court to issue emergency orders, Nicaragua said Germany's arms sales to the Tel Aviv regime make it complicit in the Gaza war crimes...

read more here

Germany is becoming a police state when it comes to Palestine activism

from Mondoweiss

The German state is taking extraordinary measures to clamp down on pro-Palestinian activism, including arresting activists in their homes in the middle of the night.

At 6 a.m. on March 22, pro-Palestinian activists Said and Yasemin, who were asleep in their respective Berlin homes, were awakened by armed and masked police officers who broke down their doors at the same time. Berlin police then looked through their belongings and confiscated their electronic devices, including their phones. The simultaneous raid was to deter one from communicating with or warning the other.

In a series of posts on social media, Said said that this raid was the police’s third visit and he maintains that he is being targeted for his activism and that he did nothing wrong. “I am not okay,” he wrote, “Why is the German government trying everything possible to criminalize me? I have done nothing wrong. I make the German government and the media responsible for everything that might happen to me!” 

Yasemin tells me that she was targeted due to a social media video she made on the action against Israeli diplomat and ambassador of Israel to Germany, Ron Proser. “I explained why the activists are protesting Proser in my video, but the police [took that as evidence that] I was there.” Yasemin was not...

read more here

Scott Ritter: Leaked Crimea Attack Plans Begs the Question ‘Who’s in Charge in Germany’?

from Sputnik News

The editor-in-chief of Sputnik’s parent media group dropped bombshell audio last Friday of a conversation between senior Bundeswehr officers discussing plans to attack the Crimean Bridge using German-made Taurus missiles. The leak, whose authenticity was subsequently confirmed by German media, sparked a formal investigation.

 

The leaked conversation between senior Bundeswehr officers plotting aggression against Russia using German weapons raises serious questions about who’s truly in charge in Germany – the military or the civilian government, and signals a truly worrying slide toward military rule, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and independent military analyst Scott Ritter has told Sputnik.

 

“There's a crisis in civil military affairs in Germany today, and the whole world seems to be ignoring this,” Ritter said, pointing out that while attention has been paid to the details of the leaked February 19 discussion, in which officers effectively plotted “an act of war” against Russia - “no ifs, and or buts” about it, the more important question about just who is in charge of Germany today has been left unanswered...

read more here