Bern – Once a month, the pro-Israel “Israel Forum Bern” runs a stand with dates and reading material on Bern’s Bahnhofplatz. The aim is to break down prejudices against Israel in discussions with the population, says association member Johannes Lortz. Most of the afternoons would pass peacefully – but not last Thursday.
A police-approved Palestinian rally took place a few meters from the Israeli stand. As Lortz explains, this was partly organized by young people from Lebanon, who also threw around Hezbollah propaganda. A “bawling mob with flags and antisemitic hate slogans against Israel” then besieged the stand, and a few Hitler salutes were even shown, according to Lortz: “We got scared, but stayed calm and filmed what was going on.”
Finally, the protesters were given a Bible translated into Arabic – “to calm things down,” says Lortz. But the Israel friends apparently achieved the opposite: “The mob became even more angry and began to burn the Bible.”
But why was a Bible handed over and not the Torah, the holy book of the Jews? The Jewish faith forbids advertising for the religion, explains Lortz. In addition, the “Israel Forum Bern” is Christian-Jewish; not all members have a Jewish background.
The demonstrators then went back to their rally, but returned to the stand a little later and spat demonstratively on the ground, Lortz said. After a while the police showed up.
