Germany / 06-06-2012
Neo-Nazis praise German mayor for Israel boycott
Albrecht SchröterJena - The local branch of the neo-Nazi party (NPD) expressed solidarity for the campaign calling for a boycott of Israeli products that is supported by the German city of Jena’s Social Democratic Mayor Albrecht Schröter and the left-wing NGO Pax Christi.
The NPD branch in the state of Thuringia, where Jena is located, quickly issued accolades on Monday to Schröter on its website. The neo-Nazis wrote that he is “courageous” for his anti-Israel conduct and noted “as nationalists who have to deal every day with these Jewish/left-liberal defamation tactics, we think of Goethe’s sorcerer’s apprentice, who couldn’t get rid of the spirits he called.”
Schröter refused to answer queries from The Jerusalem Post about whether the boycott was creating an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish climate in Jena. He reiterated his pro-boycott action in an opinion piece on Monday in the local Thüringische Landeszeitung.
According to the mayor, his goal “is to demand mandatory labeling of goods from illegal Israeli settlements that occupy Palestinian territory.” Anti-boycott critics say the boycott’s language is nebulous and sweeping, and results in a boycott of Israeli-labeled products.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s international director, Dr. Shimon Samuels, told the Post on Monday that the human rights group may issue a formal travel advisory to warn Diaspora Jews and Israelis about visits to the city because of the possibility of antisemitic violence.
Samuels said the Wiesenthal Center will “consider a travel advisory about Jena” because the anti-Israel boycott “campaign can result in physical [acts of] antisemitism.”
