MUNICH (EJP)--- Central Munich has played host to a Pro-Israel peace demonstration calling an end to terrorism and anti-Semitism.

The majority of the 300 people who participated in Friday’s event were pro-Israel activists who also demanded action to be taken against anti-Zionism.

They carried with them Israeli flags and banners that read “Terror Against Israel Must Stop”, and “No to anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.”

Focus on the cause

Andreas Wittenzellner, organiser of the rally, asked onlookers standing at Munich’s Marienplatz, in the heart of the city, to focus on the cause and not the effect of the current crisis.

“Rockets have fallen on Israeli towns, uninterruptedly, for months. The kidnapping of young men by Hezbollah has caused the situation to boil over,” he said.

Harald Eckert, executive officer of the organisation “Christians for Israel”, said in his speech that these times are also important for Christians. “We Christians must also show civil courage and stand, uncompromisingly, behind Israel’s right to exist. We should all be praying for Israel and a lasting peace for the region,” he said.

Peter Guttmann, who heads the AmEchad Jewish group, pleaded for the world to now stop Iran’s atomic energy programme, “in its early stages before it is too late”.

International crisis

The organisers and speakers were all in agreement that the cause of the current crisis lay not only in Gaza or in Beirut but also in Damascus, Teheran and throughout the world where the terrorists sympathisers reside – including in Germany.

Germany’s interior minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, told the Bild newspaper that the current crisis in the Middle East could eventually have negative implications for Germany.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble Photo: Bundestag

“The longer the conflict lasts, the greater the chance are that acts of terror will also be carried out in other countries. This goes for Germany, as well,” he said. He still saw no need to tighten security in Germany – although he did believe that an ongoing conflict could lead local Islamic groups to radicalise.

Schaeuble’s ministry believes that 900 Hezbollah and 300 Hamas members are currently in Germany. “In the past, these organisations have tried to recruit suicide-bombers,” the minister said. He said that he would not tolerate any of this in Germany and that he would use all mechanisms available to curb such actions.

The German interior minister knows what it means to experience politically motivated intolerance. Since October 1990, he has been bound to a wheelchair following a politically motivated assassination attempt on his life.