German government agrees to ban Hamas flag after anti-Semitic incidents – POLITICO

[ad_1]

Parties in Germany’s coalition government have agreed to ban the flag of Hamas, as a mark of respect for Jewish citizens in the wake of anti-Semitic attacks linked to last month’s Middle East violence.

Germany witnessed attacks on synagogues, the burning of Israeli flags and a surge anti-Semitic slurs during demonstrations over a violent 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas last month.  

The flag ban was first proposed by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel. After initially raising constitutional concerns, according to a letter seen by Welt am Sonntag newspaper, the center-left German Social Democratic Party (SPD) came around to the proposal. 

“We do not want the flags of terrorist organizations to be waved on German soil,” said Thorsten Frei, deputy parliamentary spokesperson for the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, the paper reporter. 

Palestinian militant group Hamas is included on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations. 

“I’m very pleased that the SPD has joined our initiative. In doing so, we can send a clear signal to our Jewish citizens,” Frei added.

Source link
[ad_2]

source https://earn8online.com/index.php/293296/german-government-agrees-to-ban-hamas-flag-after-anti-semitic-incidents-politico/