Saturday, February 23, 2019

Germany Embraces Iranian Anti-Semitism


Of course, it’s unseemly. It’s obscene. By all appearances Germany is still conducting foreign policy under the aegis of Barack Obama. It has stood strong against Trump administration pressure to repudiate the Iran nuclear deal. It has worked long and hard to allow Iran to evade American sanctions.

The nation that committed history’s worst genocide against Jewish people has overtly aligned itself with the nation that wants to continue Hitler’s work.

In effect, no one should have been surprised to see that German President Steinmeyer sent the mullahs a telegram congratulating them on the fortieth anniversary of their regime. Might we not ask what the Islamic Revolution has accomplished over all these years? Might we not ask how many Americans were murdered by Iranian IEDs in Afghanistan and Iraq? Might we not also ask them to dial down the anti-Semitism?

Apparently not. The Jerusalem Post has the story (via Maggie’s Farm):

The president of Germany Frank Walter-Steinmeier sent a congratulatory telegram to Iran's mullah regime in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in the name of federal republic's citizens. 

Germany's largest paper Bild reported on Wednesday "On the 40th anniversary of that day, friendly greetings from Berlin arrived in Tehran by telegram: the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (63), sends 'Congratulations' on the occasion of the national holiday, 'also in the name of my compatriots."'

Of course, one Jewish leader, at least, counterattacked:

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that the center "condemns German President’s congratulations to the most dangerous regime in the world, who are religious bigots, who hang Gays, and threaten genocide against Israel--home to the largest Jewish community in the world. When will he condemn their Holocaust denial?"
 

The congratulatory note to a regime that seeks the destruction of the Jewish state and the United States of America has raised eyebrows and unleashed criticism on social media. The prominent German-Iranian dissident and public intellectual Nasrin Amirsedghi wrote on her Twitter feed that "Steinmeier congratulates the Terror-Mullahs." 

And, there’s more... that is, there's the record of crimes committed by the Iranian regime:

Bild wrote "Mass executions and torture; the brutal persecution of women, minorities, and the opposition; the installation of an Islamist terror state that threatens to annihilate Israel, that covers the Middle East with its militias, and that denies the Holocaust. All of this started in Iran on 11 February, 1979, the day of the 'Islamic Revolution,' when the mullahs seized power in Tehran."

Steinmeier, who as then-foreign minister previously allowed former Iranian deputy foreign minister Muhammad Javad Ardashir Larijani, in 2008, to call for Israel's destruction and deny the Holocaust at a German foreign ministry event near Berlin's Holocaust memorial, told Iran's president Hassan Rouhani that Germany is doing “everything in its power to guarantee the maintenance and continued implementation of the JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal)."

It’s beyond obscene. It shows a decided and purposeful lack of shame:

The Bild article by Antje Schippmann noted "There is not a word of criticism concerning Tehran’s murderous attacks in Europe or its billions for financing terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah." The article said: "Instead, the telegram praises the bilateral relations and promises to 'intensely maintain' the dialogue. Only together, is it possible to 'overcome the crises and conflicts."' wrote the president, who is a member of Germany's social democratic party.

Schippmann wrote: To conclude, he [Steinmeier] encouraged the regime to also listen to the critical voices in your country. "A suggestion that seems absurd given the thousands of political detainees in torture prisons, including human rights lawyers, journalists, and environmental activists," she wrote.

Is that all?

2 comments:

sestamibi said...

"The president of Germany Frank Walter-Steinmeier sent a congratulatory telegram to Iran's mullah regime in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in the name of federal republic's citizens."

What's a telegram?

Sam L. said...

Germany: We were horrible back in the '30s and '40s, and we feel so bad about it we're importing people as bad aw=s we were then to succeed us.