Ophef over antisemitische cartoon in 'Keulse Klaagmuur' expositie

 

Al sinds 2004 is in Keulen in voetgangersgebied een tentoonstelling te zien met ten minste één antisemitische cartoon (zie afbeelding). Hij is door de politieke partijen in het Keulse college unaniem veroordeeld, ja zelfs door de Grünen, maar men heeft er tot nu toe verder niets tegen ondernomen. Een aanklacht door een theatermaker werd door de rechter afgewezen. Zie ook: Cologne tolerates 'anti-Semitic' exhibit

 

Gregor Timmer, Roters's spokesman, told the Post that it is a justified question to know why the city of Cologne is tolerating anti-Semitism. He said Herrmann is "mentally ill." In a statement issued to the Post, Mayor Roters said that "such a provocative presentation is not to be tolerated. Precisely because of the background of Germany's history, is this intolerable. One can generally criticize Israel's politics, but where an insulting or anti-Semitic expression appears, one must abstain from such a thing. In terms of the permissibility of such an expression of speech, that is covered by the right to protest and the police and public prosecutor are therefore responsible."

 

Met andere woorden, zonder Duitslands verleden was het wel acceptabel. Hoe nobel ook dat de burgemeester zich onomwonden tegen deze tentoonstelling uitspreekt, het is oonnodig en doet er zelfs aan af om de Holocaust als rechtvaardiging aan te halen. De cartoon is niet antisemitisch vanwege de Holocaust, maar omdat hij het beeld van een bloeddrinkende en dus in letterlijke zin bloeddorstige Jood weergeeft.

 

De uitspraak van de rechter eerder dat het slechts kritiek op Israel betreft, snijdt geen hout omdat hier duidelijk een persoon (en overduidelijk een Jood) wordt neergezet. Bovendien is het onderscheid tussen kritiek op Israel en antisemitisme soms kunstmatig: Israel is immers de Joodse staat, en als je haar inwoners zonder enige fundering van de meest walgelijke zaken zoals cannibalisme en doden om het doden beschuldigt, richt je je ook tegen de inwoners van het land en ook tegen Joden buiten Israel die zich ermee identificeren. Overigens vind ik het nogal slap dat de tentoonstelling al 6 jaar te zien is, en nu pas actie wordt ondernomen. Je zou daarbij ook aan tegententoonstellingen kunnen denken.

 

Voor wie denkt dat de ophef overdreven is en dit niet antisemitisch zou zijn: bedenk eens hoeveel cartoons er zijn gepubliceerd over bloeddorstige Russen die Tetsjeense kinderen opeten of Chinezen die Tibetaanse kinderen opeten, of Amerikanen die Irakese kinderen opeten. Srilankezen die Tamil kinderen opeten...?

 

RP & WB

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The antisemitic cartoon in Cologne (source)

 

German mayor slams 'Cologne Wailing Wall' exhibit

http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=200967

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL 
12/26/2010 02:20

City partners in Tel Aviv and Bethlehem blast 'anti-Semitic, anti-Israel presentation.'

BERLIN – Mayor of Cologne Jürgen Roters (Social Democratic) and its sister city partnerships, Cologne-Tel Aviv and Cologne-Bethlehem, issued a joint statement last week blasting the long-standing anti- Israel exhibit in his community's bustling Cathedral Square pedestrian-only zone.

According to the resolution, "The anti-Semitic and anti- Israel presentation of the socalled 'Cologne Wailing Wall' spreads hatred against humans and feeds anti-Israel resentments."

Members of the major parties on the Cologne city council, representatives of the Catholic and Evangelical churches, the Society for Christian- Jewish Relations in Cologne, and the local Jewish community also signed the resolution.

Roters and the Cologne authorities called on Walter Hermann, the organizer of the "Cologne Wailing Wall," to "immediately remove the installation that shows contempt for humanity" and said the city of Cologne would no longer accept Hermann's exhibit and approach.

The resolution said that Hermann has displayed his hatefest against Israel since 2004.

During his visit to Israel earlier this month, Roters presented the resolution to his Tel Aviv counterparts.

Hermann's display of an anti-Semitic cartoon in January triggered a legal complaint and a grassroots campaign from the non-Jewish theater director Gerd Buurmann. The cartoon showed a man sporting a Star of David on his bib as he devoured a young Palestinian boy with a fork while draped in an American flag and a knife with the word "Gaza." A glass filled with blood stood next to to his dinner plate.

Buurmann filed a legal protest earlier this year, asserting a violation of Germany's anti-hate law, which prohibits incitement against minority groups. In April, the Cologne public prosecutor dismissed Buurmann's grievance, saying the cartoon represented criticism of Israel's policies in Gaza and not hostility toward Jews.

The Israeli Embassy then said: "If one shows a figure with an Israeli flag devouring a Palestinian child, this reminds us of the most scurrilous accusations of ritual murder in European anti-Semitism... We don't interfere in the decisions of German judicial authorities.

But at the same time, we are convinced that the cartoon was of a clearly anti-Semitic nature and that it incites hatred and violence.

"The claim that one must distinguish between hatred of the Jewish people and hatred of the State of Israel is absolutely inappropriate and leaves a bad taste."

It is unclear if the joint resolution will compel Hermann to pull the plug on his exhibit.

Some say anti-Israeli sentiments are high in Cologne, and that this helps explains the civil society's failure over the years to mount widespread protests against the "Cologne Wailing Wall."

In April, The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Los Angeles-based human rights organization, applauded Gerd Buurmann for demanding that the "Cologne Wailing Wall" antisemitic exhibit be closed.

The Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, praised Buurmann "for his intention to lead a civil legal action suit against the exhibit's designer, Walter Herrmann, reportedly notorious for his hatred of Israel."

According to the Wiesenthal Center statement, Jürgen Roters, had previously "endorsed the Prosecutor by his silence and done nothing to condemn Hermann's hatemongering."

"Cologne's citizens should protest the resuscitation in their city of a cartoon adapted from the Nazi 'Der Stürmer' newspaper of the 1930s. Our Centre will closely monitor the situation." said Samuels.