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| Knobloch: Ahmadinejad should be arrested if he comes to Germany
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Charlotte Knobloch, the new leader of the Council of German Jews
Photo: IKG-Munich
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BERLIN (EJP) --- The new leader of the Council of German Jews has called for the arrest of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should he come to Germany to watch his country’s team play in the current FIFA World Cup.
Charlotte Knobloch, who was last week elected to the top position in the 200,000 strong German Jewish community, said she can not understand why the EU will not issue a ban on the Iranian leader after he consistently denied the Holocaust and spoke of a desire to destroy Israel.
“It is hard to fathom why the European Union is able to ban Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko from entering the EU, but acts in a reserved manner when it comes to dealing with the despot from Teheran”. Knobloch said in an interview with EJP.
Iran has so-far played one game in the World Cup tournament, losing 3-1 to Mexico. A large demonstration against Ahmadinejad was held before the match in Nuremburg.
Local concern
There has been vocal concern among many representatives of Germany’s diverse Jewish communities calling on the German government to show more resolve in censuring the Iranian leader’s cries to wipe Israel off the map.
The statements he has made questioning the extent of the Nazi genocide are a punishable crime in Germany which can lead to a prison sentence.
Although calls for Ahmadinejad’s arrest have been made, no clear position was taken by community leaders, including Knobloch, on whether the German government should have kept his deputy, Mohammad Aliabadi, from entering Germany.
Because Aliabadi has made no known public statements supporting his president’s rhetoric, he is not legally liable for supporting Ahmadinejad – in particular since his current trip to Germany has been deemed a private visit –void of diplomatic protocol.
Presidential future
Knobloch’s predecessors, Paul Spiegel and Ignaz Bubis, were referred to as the “moral authorities” of the nation.
The unofficial title was bestowed on them by politicians, industrialists and religious leaders alike as a result of their commitment to take on every form of discrimination, not only anti-Semitism, regardless against whom it was directed.
Even last year, at the opening of the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe, in Berlin, Spiegel told the invited guests, “now it is time for the German government to begin recognising other groups for the wrongs committed upon them during the Nazi era. It is time for the Sinti and Roma (Gypsy) to have a monument of their own”.
Asked whether she would follow in this role, Knobloch said that it is not someting which one simply takes on.
“None of my predecessors lined up to receive this title. It was bestowed upon them by the public. I myself do not find it very easy to deal with such a definition. I do want to make clear, however, that if the Jewish community needs me or if there is a theme which touches the Jewish community, I would not hesitate to represent Jewish interests with precise clarity.
“That is how I view my role as president of the Central Council. And Jews in Germany have the right to expect that I will fulfil their expectations,” she said.
Anti-semitism rise
Knobloch also commented on how mushrooming unemployment rates among young people in Germany have led to a continual growth in right-wing, anti-Semitic and racist tendencies.
Many young people have been led to believe by right wing political parties that they are also being discriminately held responsible for the Holocaust – made to feel that they will pay for eternity.
“Professional Jews” (Berufs Judentum) is the new cliché which refers to money-grabbing Jews. Jews are no longer the problem. According to a statement given by right wing German National Party (NPD), last year, professional Jews are the current problem.
The NPD referred to all representatives of Jewish communities world-wide who have been active in righting the wrongs of the nazi genocide, including the Central Council as professional Jews. The NPD wants that further compensation claims by Jewish groups and individuals be stopped.
Knobloch was clear on how to react to this situation. “We have to be clear, that young people in Germany are not responsible for what happened between 1933 and 1945, but is their responsibility to see to it that such crimes never be committed again,” she said.
“If both sides can accept this precept, then we can certainly enter into dialogue. But this is exactly what we must try to make the broad public understand – including parents, schools, churches, political parties and other organisations. Only when we have achieved this, can the discussion really move forward. Drying up the swamp where the neo-Nazis congregate will require the involvement of all democratically minded people and forces”
“In front of many German schools, members of the NPD distribute free CDs with hard rock music laden with racist and anti-Semitic texts. That just should not be happening. It is important that parents, teachers and school kids learn to defend themselves from such actions. This could happen if more were done to educate school children about right-wing politics – so that the most natural response would then be to toss the CDs in the closes garbage bins,” the Central Council president said.
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