Palestine Conference planned to take place in Berlin is under threat
Berliner Sparkasse freezes Jewish Voice account
JVL Introduction
A major Palestine Conference planned to take place in Berlin next month aims to raise awareness about the ongoing violations of international law by the Israeli military in Gaza, and about German complicity.
It is coming under increasing pressure with calls for it to be banned as a “hate summit of antisemites”.
As part of this repressive hysteria, the bank account of Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East has been frozen by the Berliner Sparkasse because they’re using it to collect funds for this event.
This is a yet another example of the ongoing intolerance and suppression of democratic rights in Germany, chronicled in many of the related articles listed at the bottom of this post.
We post here a statement from Jewish Voice, the conference call, and a Democracy in Europe Movement statement of solidarity.
RK
PS: 30 Mar: We have added a statement of protest from the International Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine asking “which side of history is Germany on this time?”
Statement by Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East
In 2024, Jewish money is once again being confiscated by a German bank
On 26 March 2024, our account with the Berliner Sparkasse was frozen with immediate effect. In a letter, the Sparkasse informed us that it had taken this step as a precautionary measure and that we should submit numerous internal documents by 5 April to update our customer data. As a public corporation, the bank is bound by public law and may therefore not arbitrarily freeze accounts without providing an explanation, which it did not. It is also highly unusual that the required documents include a list of our members with their full names and addresses.
Why should this information be important to the Berliner Sparkasse? It sounds more like a question that might be asked by an intelligence service or the police, who have been politically persecuting us as a Jewish organisation for some time. Our previous account with the Bank for Social Economy was closed in 2019 because of our support for BDS. This happened after agitation by Israeli journalist Benjamin Weinthal and pressure from the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
This pressure and political persecution are increasing as Israel and its apartheid policies in the state of Israel and the West Bank, and now its genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip, lose support around the world. Germany is one of Israel’s last loyal allies, and the German state is co-operating with Israel’s apartheid and genocide, even though over 80% of the population does not support the German government’s policy.
The Palestine Congress will take place in Berlin in mid-April and will feature a wide range of international speakers, including the former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. The closer the congress gets, the more intense the persecution becomes; for weeks, there has been shrill defamation from the tabloid media and local politicians, such as describing it as a “hate summit” for which “thousands of anti-Semites” will be coming to Berlin. Because the journalists can’t write anything factual about it, they try to delegitimise the congress through guilt by association.
Here is the Conference announcement
EN: Palestine Conference 2024 (12-14 April)
We Accuse
The Palestinians are suffering a genocide. Israel is destroying Gaza and its population. By February 2024, 1.9 million people had been displaced. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military. Infrastructure, hospitals, universities, schools, administrative buildings and apartment blocks lay destroyed. Hundreds of thousands suffer from hunger and have no access to clean drinking water or medicine.
In response, South Africa indicted Israel for genocide at the International Court of Justice in January. The court recognised evidence of genocide. The German government responded immediately. The accusation of genocide “lacks any basis”.
In fact, the German government’s self-righteousness is brazen. Since October 2023, it has increased arms deliveries to Israel tenfold. A few days after the ruling of the International Court of Justice and while hunger is rampant, the German government declared that it would cease its humanitarian support to the Palestinians.
Germany declares injustice to be just. Germany supports a genocide.
Join us for the Palestine Conference on 12-14 April 2024!
Together, with the voices of the Palestinian movement and the international community, we will denounce Israeli apartheid and genocide. We accuse Germany of being complicit.
The Palestine Conference will see numerous keynote speakers, panels and workshops. It will also be a space for organising and networking within the movement. Together we will discuss the perspectives of our movement on the basis of a common resolution. Practical steps for actions in the workplace, universities, schools, arts and culture will be discussed and decided upon. An evening cultural programme and Palestinian catering will ensure a sense of community and well-being.
Never Again for All
The noise of bombardments in Palestine is only surpassed by the droning silence of German society. The genocide in Gaza is therefore a turning point in German history. The German government is shamelessly supporting a genocide in front of the world public. Democratic rights were undermined in order to silence protests calling for a ceasefire. Freedom of assembly, freedom of organisation, freedom of the press and academic freedom were massively curtailed.
At home, the German state is reproducing a regime of occupation and disenfranchisement that the Israeli state has practiced against Palestinians since 1948.
This historical rupture requires resistance. German politicians are endeavouring to cynically reinterpret history and justify their support for genocide in the name of “never again”. If they succeed in doing this without resistance, the unthinkable will once again become feasible in Germany.
We will break this silence together and demand:
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Immediate ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of the Israeli army.
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Immediate cancellation of all restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza and full funding of UNRWA.
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Immediate opening of all border crossings from Rafah to Allenby. Tear down the apartheid walls.
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Full reparations by Israel, Germany and other Israeli allies to the Palestinian people.
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Immediate cessation of all military, diplomatic and economic support for Israel by the German state as well as a comprehensive military embargo.
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No to the use of the Zionist IHRA definition by any institution or state authority.
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Stop the criminalisation and repression of the Palestine solidarity movement in Germany. Immediately stop all criminalisation of Palestinian organisations and individuals, as well as all deportations.
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Enforce the right of return of Palestinian refugees and end the Zionist settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing of the entire occupied Palestine that has been going on for over 76 years.
Equality and justice will only reign, peace will only prevail with the complete end of the oppression of Palestinians. We fight for an end to Zionist settler colonialism and its apartheid policies in all of historic Palestine, so that all people – regardless of religion or ethnicity, regardless if Muslim, Jewish or Christian – can live under the same equal rights. This includes the necessity to implement the right of return for all Palestinian refugees.
In the struggle for these goals, we call for a broad campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli state in Germany. We call on trade unions, employees and the population to stop arms deliveries. All justification and support for genocide in any form must be stopped through strikes or civil disobedience.
Democray in Europe Movement Statement
Solidarity against repression and possible ban of 2024 Palestine Conference in Berlin
By DiEM25 Communications | 26/03/2024
The Palestine Conference aims to raise awareness about the ongoing violations of international law by the Israeli military in Gaza and German complicity, but the congress is facing massive pressure
The intentions of German politics to ban or hinder the conference represent a clear political threat to freedom of expression and align with the increasing repression against the Palestine solidarity movement.
Senator for the Interior, Iris Spranger (SPD), stated that the authorities are monitoring the planned Palestine Conference, while CDU faction leader Dirk Stettner demands that everything must be done to prevent the alleged “anti-Semitic event”. It is scandalous that an event involving Palestinian and international guests, as well as the Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East and other renowned, international Jewish speakers, is being defamed in this way.
In recent months and years, we have observed how Palestine demonstrations – whether organised by Palestinians, anti-Zionist Jews, or supportive individuals – are systematically banned, how police violence against demonstrators at Palestine demonstrations is increasing massively, and how the withdrawal of venues and media smear campaigns show no end.
While the German government shamelessly supports genocide before the eyes of the world, democratic rights are undermined here in Germany to silence protests for a ceasefire. Freedom of assembly, freedom of organisation, freedom of the press, and academic freedom have been massively restricted. In this context, we also see the attempt to ban the Palestine Congress. It is an attack on democratic rights and an attempt at international understanding.
And Germany is not the only state attempting to criminalise Palestine solidarity, as the phenomenon has gained momentum in countries like the United Kingdom or France: active Palestine solidarity has become the target of repressive legislation in different ways. The concept of freedom of speech is being questioned in Europe, paradoxically in the name of a country that increasingly upholds international law and human rights rhetorically with astonishing arrogance.
Therefore, we demand that the state of Berlin cease its efforts to ban this congress and stop the repressions against the Palestine conference. Freedom of speech and assembly must be defended.
It is up to us in the Palestine solidarity movement to vehemently oppose any form of repression and censorship.
Why did a German bank close the Jewish Voice account?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2024
Contact: Donna Nevel, [email protected]
Jewish groups from 14 countries are outraged that the Berliner Sparkasse bank has frozen the account of Jüdische Stimme (Jewish Voice) until the organisation submits documents including the full names and addresses of its members.
‘The Berliner Sparkasse is a public corporation, operating in a state whose citizens are free to associate and engage in politics. Their request is an act of intimidation,’ says Wieland Hoban, chairman of Jüdische Stimme. ‘Jüdische Stimme / Jewish Voice is assisting the organisers of the Palestine Congress, which will take place in Berlin in mid-April. The closer the congress gets, the more intense the persecution becomes; for weeks, there has been shrill defamation from the tabloid media and local politicians, such as describing it as a “hate summit” for which “thousands of anti-Semites” will be coming to Berlin. Because the journalists can’t write anything factual about it, they try to delegitimise the congress through guilt by association.’ In country after country, Palestinians, Jews and others who protest Israel’s devastation of Gaza are being called antisemitic for upholding Palestinians’ human and collective rights.
The International Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine (IJCJP) is a grouping of Jewish organisations in 14 countries. Jüdische Stimme is a founding member. IJCJP members educate their communities to distinguish real antisemitism from its weaponisation to shield Israel from protest and accountability. The political use of antisemitism is enabled by a definition which conflates anti-Zionism and the hatred of Jews or Judaism. One of the definition’s drafters has testified to US Congress that it is being used with ‘“the subtlety of a mallet” to stigmatise and stifle criticism of Israel.’ We, the member groups of the IJCJP, are appalled that German Jews are being called antisemitic for upholding the rights and laws on which the world agreed after the Holocaust, so as to prevent further genocide. Judische Stimme’s membership includes the descendants of Holocaust survivors determined to be personally faithful to their commitment ‘never again’.
Right now, Israel stands charged with genocide at the International Court of Justice. For a German bank to confiscate Jewish funds from a mission to save lives is a new low in the long effort to silence Palestinian, anti-Zionist and pro-human rights voices. It is unthinkable that German banks should presume to define the terms of Jewish involvement in public life. Restore the account and think again: which side of history is Germany on this time?
/END
In a sane world….. but then in a sane world wars and conflicts and the mass slaughter of people would never happen/arise. Needless to say, the reason our world and reality and our history is what it is, is because Psychopaths have always ruled the roost. And psychopaths will never relinquish their power and control, and smearing and demonising their natural enemies etc – ie Empaths – is second nature to them.
Caitlin Johnstone sums up the situation perfectly in a recent post:
‘Imagine If Russia Or China Did The Things Israel Is Doing In Gaza’
Imagine how the western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was bombing and starving a walled-in population of two million, half of them children. Seriously, imagine it. Imagine the rage and vitriol. Imagine the nonstop media coverage.
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/imagine-if-russia-or-china-did-the-things-israel-is-doing-in-gaza-4facdeb0030f
Even by German standards the vitriol being poured on the Palestine Congress is shocking: ‘antisemitism’, ‘racism’, ‘jew-hate’. So determined is the German political and media establishment to prevent any deviation from its unwavering pro-zionist line.
Probably unable legally to ban the event, the authorities are using any means they can to prevent it: blocking the bank account, threatening potential venues (the location is still unannounced), looking at refusing entry to international participants. One of these is said to be Yanis Varoufakis, whose DIEM25 has apparently now offered its account for the event.
The leader of the ruling Christian Democrats in the Berlin State Parliament has said it would be a disgrace for Berlin if the event were to take place. The true disgrace is how Germany is betraying its claimed liberal values in its unconditional support for war crimes and genocide.
It’s just POSSIBLE German media coverage of Nicaragua’s UJC case 9-10 April against Germany (for facilitating genocide in Gaza) might help the organisers of the Palestine Conference. If enough German viewers follow the case in detail (especially as live-streamed by the court) a sudden switch in German public opinion could happen.
At least one German minister has become so horrified about the suffering in Gaza she may now soften her political position.