Photo:Open source
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a powerful call for solidarity with the Jewish community in the country. In a video message published on 6 October, he stressed that “it should never happen that Jews in Germany live in fear and terror.”
Scholz noted that in no case should a situation be allowed where Jews were afraid to go out in a kippah or where students of Jewish origin in universities did not want to recognise their nationality. He assured that the German government and “all decent people” in the country were in full solidarity with the Jews.
The Chancellor also recalled his trip to Israel in October 2023, when he met with the hostages’ relatives. “I will never forget the faces of people who do not know if they will ever see their loved ones again,” he said.
Scholz pointed out that the Hamas attack was not only a “monstrous” act of aggression against Israel, but also led to enormous suffering for the Palestinian people: “So much destruction, so many casualties.” He called for an urgent ceasefire to protect the civilian population of Gaza and to release Israeli hostages.
The Chancellor stressed the importance of a diplomatic settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the two-state solution. He assured that Germany would do everything possible to facilitate these processes.
Scholz’s statement was an important signal of support for the Jewish community and a call for peace in the region in the face of growing anti-Semitism.
