German Social Democratic Party leader Saskia Esken has boycotted a Bernie Sanders event over his supposedly anti-Israel statements. Bernie’s statement? “The targeting of civilians is a war crime, no matter who does it.”
ED: A recent episode with a popular German political podcaster
It’s almost beyond belief, but it’s true.
Even the simplest softest anti-Zionist criticisms are turned into huge anti-semitic proclamations, and those in turn are beyond the pale in Germany. In the last week Israel flags have sprung up everywhere, as well as missing person posters for Israelis supposedly abducted by Hamas.
But that’s as far as German support for Jews goes - or maybe one should call it German repentance for the crimes of the Nazis.
At the same time anti-semitic violence has always been happening in the background, but it’s never really reported on or discussed. There are regular Nazi “cells” discovered within police and military, but it’s always “isolated incidents.” The constitutional protection agency (Verfassungsschutz) is run by Nazi adjacents. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.