Memorials and vigils were held across Germany on Monday as the world commemorated the first anniversary of the unprecedented terrorist attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A projection of the Israeli flag lit up the iconic Brandenburg Gate in the heart of the German capital Berlin after nightfall, where activists had gathered earlier in the day to read the names of 1,170 people who were killed in Israel on October 7 killed and 255 kidnapped. , 2023.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday called on the entire country to uphold the principle of “Never Again,” a phrase used in Germany in reference to the horrors of the Holocaust, when the country’s Nazi leaders systematically murdered six million Jews.
Hamas’ attack on communities and a music festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 is considered the worst mass attack on Jews since Nazi-era crimes.
Post-war German leaders noted the country’s historic responsibility in forging close ties with Israel, and Germany remains a close ally and supporter of the Jewish state.
About a hundred hostages kidnapped by Hamas are believed to remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip, although it is unclear whether they are still alive.
Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, leading to international condemnation and fears of a regional escalation, which has only been exacerbated by the Israeli army’s recent offensive in Lebanon and a barrage of rockets fired at Israel from Iran.
War in Gaza ‘killed too many’
Steinmeier, addressing an interfaith memorial service in Berlin on Monday evening, urged citizens not to mindlessly condemn Israel.
The war in Gaza “has already killed too many people and caused too much suffering – for Israelis and Palestinians, and now for the people of Lebanon,” Steinmeier said.
“Questions are being asked more loudly and urgently, and the public debate is becoming more intense – less about whether Israel has the right to defend itself, and more about where the limits of the right to defend itself lie,” he said.
He said he would “like to see an end to mortality in the Middle East” but warned against “plain, simplistic” advice.
“The deaths in Gaza, the hunger and destruction would not have happened without the attack and massacres of October 7 last year,” he said.
Steinmeier also expressed his disgust at anti-Semitism in Germany and the feeling of insecurity among Jews in Germany.
“But no matter how concerned we are, we must not lose track,” Steinmeier warned.
Attacks and threats or protesters calling for a Middle East without Israel amounted to hatred of Jews, he added. “We must not and will not tolerate that.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations
Several pro-Palestinian rallies were held in cities across the country, including in Frankfurt, where a rally was held after a court overturned a ban imposed by the city.
Another demonstration took place in Berlin, where a protest march against the war in Gaza was halted on Sunday after some of the 3,500 participants clashed with police.
Authorities in the German capital deployed more than 2,000 officers on Monday in an attempt to secure the vigils and keep the peace.
Police made several arrests during an afternoon protest in Berlin after demonstrators expressing solidarity with Palestine reportedly threw bottles at police and chanted the slogan: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a phrase that the German authorities have tried to ban it as an excuse. Hamas propaganda slogan calling for the extermination of Israel.
Scholz says Germany stands behind Israel
The aftermath of October 7 has proven particularly sensitive in Germany, which sees Israel’s security as a “reason of state” – a phrase that refers to Berlin’s historical responsibility to the State of Israel after the Holocaust.
However, the country’s significant Muslim minority and pro-Palestinian activists have been alienated by what they see as the German government’s failure to address the suffering of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Scholz called for a ceasefire in the Middle East on Monday in Hamburg and expressed his solidarity with Israel.
“Dear friends in Israel, we sympathize with you… we are on your side,” the chancellor said at the opening of a conference on sustainable development in the northern German city.
Scholz also addressed the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Nothing good can come from the daily experience of violence and hunger,” the chancellor said. “That is why the federal government is calling for a ceasefire, for the release of hostages, for a political trial, even though that now seems further away than ever.”
The only solution to the conflict, according to Scholz, is a two-state solution, so that “Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side permanently.”
