BERLIN: More than 100 Israeli academics have warned in a letter that a failure by Germany to put pressure on Israel could lead to new atrocities in Gaza.
“Further hesitation on Germany’s part threatens to enable new atrocities — and undermines the lessons learnt from its own history,” the academics wrote in the letter, addressed to senior Social Democrat (SPD) lawmakers Rolf Muetzenich and Adis Ahmetovic and seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
On July 22, the two men, whose party is in the ruling coalition, had called for Germany to join an international coalition pushing for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, sanctions against Israel and a suspension of weapons deliveries.
The German government — comprising the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the SPD — has sharpened its criticism of Israel over the manmade humanitarian catastrophe visited on Gaza’s 2 million people, but has yet to announce any major policy change.
Israel denies having a policy of starvation in Gaza, and says the Hamas militant group, responsible for an operation that killed 1,200 people in Israel in October 2023 and took hundreds more hostage, could end the crisis by surrendering.
Critics argue that Germany’s response to the war has been overly cautious, mostly owing to an enduring sense of guilt for the Nazi Holocaust, weakening the West’s collective ability to put pressure on Israel.
“If over 100 Israeli academics are calling for an immediate change of course ... then it’s high time we took visible action,” Ahmetovic told the public broadcaster ARD.
Britain, Canada and France have signalled their readiness to recognize a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory at the United Nations General Assembly this September.
German hesitation on Gaza could encourage atrocities, Israeli academics say
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German hesitation on Gaza could encourage atrocities, Israeli academics say
- The letter was addressed to senior Social Democrat lawmakers Rolf Muetzenich and Adis Ahmetovic
- The two MPs have called for Germany to impose sanctions against Israel and a suspension of weapons deliveries
Tanzania opposition says 2,000 killed in election violence
- Opposition party Chadema’s deputy chairperson John Heche said Tanzania witnessed “mass killings of more than 2,000 people and over 5,000 injured in the space of just one week“
- The violence was carried out “with direct involvement of the state“
DAR ES SALAM: Tanzania’s main opposition party on Thursday said more than 2,000 people were killed in a week of election violence, calling for sanctions against officials it accused of crimes against humanity.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner of October 29 polls with 98 percent of the vote, but her government was accused of rigging the polls and overseeing a campaign of murders and abductions of her critics that sparked nationwide protests and riots.
Opposition party Chadema’s deputy chairperson John Heche told reporters that Tanzania witnessed “mass killings of more than 2,000 people and over 5,000 injured in the space of just one week.”
He said the violence was carried out “with direct involvement of the state” and that it amounted to “crimes against humanity.”
Previous opposition counts had put the deaths at more than 1,000. The government has not given a death toll.
Heche urged the international community to “impose sanctions on all individuals involved in planning and executing these acts of criminality and crimes against humanity.”
In a live online broadcast, he said those responsible should be subjected to travel bans, including restrictions on their families.
Heche also said the unrest triggered a surge of people fleeing the country, alongside “the abduction and enforced disappearance of hundreds of civilians.”
Chadema further accused security units of carrying out rapes, torture and “gruesome killings,” and of engaging in widespread looting and arbitrary arrests.
The party urged authorities to return the bodies of those killed so families could bury them.
Authorities have continued to stifle dissent, with planned protests earlier this week seeing empty streets and a significant security presence.
Hassan last week justified the killings, saying it was necessary to prevent the overthrow of the government.
“The force that was used corresponds to the situation at hand,” she said in a speech.
Hassan has formed an inquiry commission into the violence, which the opposition says includes only government loyalists, instead calling for an independent investigation.
