Latest news with #CentralCouncilofJewsinGermany
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First Post
01-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Germany arrests Danish national suspected of spying on Jewish targets for Iran
German prosecutors said the man, who they named as only Ali S under German privacy law, spied on three properties in June in preparation for further intelligence activities, including possibly attacks on Jewish targets read more A Danish national has been arrested in Denmark on suspicion of spying for Iran by collecting information on Jewish sites and individuals in Berlin, and will be extradited to Germany, German and Danish authorities said on Tuesday. German prosecutors said the man, who they named as only Ali S under German privacy law, spied on three properties in June in preparation for further intelligence activities, including possibly attacks on Jewish targets. He is suspected of having received his orders from Iranian intelligence services in early 2025, prosecutors said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Germany's foreign ministry said the Iranian ambassador had been summoned on Tuesday. 'If this suspicion were confirmed, it would be an outrageous incident that would once again demonstrate that Iran is a threat to Jews all over the world,' said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, speaking after visiting a Jewish synagogue in the southern city of Odesa during a visit to Ukraine. The Iranian embassy in Berlin rejected the allegations as 'unfounded and dangerous accusations' that it said appeared designed to distract from Israeli attacks on Iran. 'Previous discussions with relevant German authorities have already highlighted that certain third parties are attempting to divert public perceptions from the actual events through artificial staging,' it said in a statement. The foreign ministry in Tehran did not respond to a call for comment. According to Der Spiegel magazine, the suspect took photos of buildings including the headquarters of the German-Israeli Society and a building where the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, was said to occasionally stay. After being transferred from neighbouring Denmark, the suspect will be brought before an investigating judge of Germany's Federal Court of Justice, prosecutors said. The suspect was remanded in custody until July 23, pending extradition to Germany, Denmark's PET national security and intelligence service said in a statement. During last month's 12-day war between Iran and Israel, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Germany was prepared for Iran targeting Israeli or Jewish targets in the country, without going into detail. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The German-Israeli Society called on the European Union to list Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation. 'The extended arms of Iranian terror must have no place in Germany,' it said in a statement. Schuster called it a 'clear alarm signal' in an emailed statement. 'The German government should not only remain vigilant but also take active political action against the Iranian regime —there can be no other consequence for this allegedly planned terrorist attack,' he said. The Danish justice ministry and foreign ministry both referred enquiries to the Danish intelligence service.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German Jewish leader warns against voting for populist parties
The Central Council of Jews in Germany has cautioned its communities against voting for populist parties in February's election. In a letter seen by dpa on Wednesday, the council's president, Josef Schuster, warned that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) "are home to anti-Semites from the extreme right and radical enemies of Israel and Ukraine from the left." The letter added: "For the Central Council of Jews in Germany, it is clear that these parties do not want to contribute to the well-being of our society. "I ask you to take all of this into consideration when you go to the ballot box or cast your vote by post." Schuster said the AfD's "desire for a 180-degree turnaround in remembrance policy" and its language on Germany's "cult of guilt" are diminishing the memory of the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes. Its nationalist policies and call for "remigration" are creating a climate of fear, the letter added. The council's president also argued that the BSW is inverting history with its criticism of Israel actions as "terror." The AfD, which is under investigation by the domestic intelligence service as a suspected extremist group, is currently polling second ahead of the vote on February 23. The BSW is fighting to pass the 5% threshold usually needed for entry to the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German Central Council of Jews: More people should visit Auschwitz
As the world marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, the Central Council of Jews in Germany has called for more initiatives to facilitate visits to authentic sites of Nazi crimes. Josef Schuster, the council's president, said: "Anyone who has been to Auschwitz does not question why the memory of the Shoah [Holocaust] must be kept alive. Anyone who has been to Auschwitz understands why the memory of the Shoah can have no parallels." On January 27, 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated the German concentration and extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. The 80th anniversary of the date falls on Monday, with delegations from more than 40 countries expected to attend the central ceremony at the memorial on the site of the former Nazi camp in modern-day Poland. Germany, the perpetrator nation, is expected to be more prominently represented than ever before, with a large delegation, including President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Bundesrat President Anke Rehlinger. The Nazis had deported around 1.3 million people to the camp. Approximately 1.1 million were murdered, including about 1 million European Jews. Since 1996, the day has been a national day of remembrance in Germany. Schuster said that the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz is never routine, but this year it should prompt even more reflection. He explained that there are fewer and fewer witnesses of the Shoah, as the Holocaust in known in Hebrew, and more people in Germany have no familial connection to the time of Nazism. The 80th anniversary is a "milestone in the remembrance of this rupture in civilization," Schuster said. Survey: Half of Germans support mandatory visits Half of Germans over the age of 18 would support mandatory concentration camp memorial visits, according to a survey conducted by the YouGov polling institute to mark the anniversary. In the poll published on Sunday, 42% were opposed to the idea of mandatory visits, and 8% did not provide an answer. Currently, such a requirement exists only in certain federal states, such as Bavaria and Saarland. Last year, the centre-right coalition in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, called for a nationwide mandate that pupils should visit a concentration camp memorial at least once during their schooling as part of a motion to combat anti-Semitism. Of those surveyed by YouGov on behalf of dpa, only just over half, or 52%, had visited a former concentration camp at least once. One in four has been to Auschwitz. YouGov surveyed 2,194 Germans over the age of 18 between January 17 and 20 for the survey. In the age group of 18 to 29 years, a particularly high number — 61% — reported having been to a former concentration camp at least once. Among those over the age of 70, the figure drops to only 42%. A total of 76% of respondents feel well informed about the Holocaust, while only 16% feel poorly informed. A proportion of 22% believe there should be more remembrance in Germany of the mass murder of Jews in Europe under the Nazis. In contrast, 19% feel that there is too much commemoration, with 48% of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) voters holding this view. A slight majority of 52% are satisfied with the current level of remembrance efforts. Vice Chancellor Habeck calls for new approach Germany needs a new approach to its culture of remembrance, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said on Sunday. Writing in Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper, Habeck, the lead candidate for the Greens in the February 23 elections, paid tribute to the work done on the commemoration of Nazi-era crimes over past decades. "But we stand today before the renewed task of keeping the culture of remembrance alive, so that it keeps us awake, under new conditions, with new challenges," he wrote. "In many respects we are living through a period of transition," Habeck wrote. He noted that few of the perpetrators of Nazi crimes were still alive, and that only a few victims could still bear witness. Memory and horror were increasingly less connected with the parents or grandparents of people today. "In addition, our country has long become a home for millions of people with a migration background, who have no biographical link to German responsibility for the Nazi past," Habeck wrote. History was also being distorted, with few checks on this process. "A new approach is needed to justify the need for remembrance and to explain the 'Never Again' message," he wrote.
