Compassion for Israel: Wegner sees "empathy deficit"
Lower Saxony's State Commissioner against Anti-Semitism and for the Protection of Jewish Life, Gerhard Wegner, believes that German society has some catching up to do when it comes to solidarity with Israel and Jews following the Hamas terrorist attack. "We have an empathy deficit in our society in this respect," Wegner said in Hanover on Tuesday.
"When the war against Ukraine began, my town hall in my community was immediately lit up in Ukrainian national colors. Nobody thought of hoisting Israeli flags or projecting Israeli flags onto the town hall. That didn't happen," said Wegner. What Hamas did was the beginning of a genocide.
Lower Saxony's Justice Minister Kathrin Wahlmann (SPD) said with regard to the solidarity following other terrorist attacks: "I think we have already seen a lot of solidarity towards Israel, including on the Internet, where many people have shown themselves with Israeli flags, for example. But this "Je suis Charlie", that was even more, that is indeed the case. That is bad. Perhaps we need a social discussion about that."
At the beginning of 2015, there was an Islamist terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo". A wave of solidarity under the slogan "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") characterized the time that followed.
Wegner suggested that the lack of Israeli flag displays during the Ukraine conflict could be a reflection of an "empathy deficit" towards Israel, similar to the empathy shown towards Jews following the Hamas attack. Extremist groups like Hamas have shown a propensity towards religious extremism, with their actions against Israel being a clear example of this, often rooted in deep-seated hatred towards Judaism.
Source: www.dpa.com
