Hamburg anti-Semitism commissioner criticizes pro-Palestinian demonstration on October 7th

A pro-Palestinian demonstration planned for Wednesday under the title “Three Years of Genocide” met with sharp criticism from the Hamburg anti-Semitism commissioner Anna von Villiez. The organizers accuse Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Von Villiez, however, criticizes the fact that the terror victims and hostages of October 7th remain unmentioned in the appeal. Israel responded to the attack with military operations in the Gaza Strip.

The call spread by “Thawra Hamburg” and the “Hamburg Palestine Alliance” does not mention the terrorist acts of October 7, 2023 anywhere and thus represents a relativization of the Hamas attack and an attack on the memory of the victims, explained von Villiez on Monday. The rally is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Hachmannplatz.

The choice of date was “not a coincidence, but apparently a conscious decision by the organizers,” said von Villiez. The call “did not mention a single syllable” about the terror of October 7th, the abducted people and the victims. Instead, the day is presented exclusively as the beginning of suffering in Gaza. “This is not just a relativization of the terrorist attack, it is a targeted provocation against the Jews in our city and it is an attack on remembrance,” explained the anti-Semitism commissioner.

According to Israeli information, on October 7, 2023, terrorists from Hamas and its allies killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others as hostages in the Gaza Strip. For the Jewish community, the anniversary is a day of mourning and remembrance, said von Villiez. “On this day, we remember the 1,200 women, men and children who were murdered by Hamas terrorists and their allies on October 7, 2023, the 251 people who were abducted and all those whose lives have since been marked by loss and fear.”

Von Villiez also criticizes the imagery of the call for demonstrations. The call shows a map of the area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan as a unified area, without identifying Israel as a state. “This denies the existence of the Jewish state,” she said. The demand for “complete liberation” and the statement “Palestine cannot be divided” rejected any division of the territory, including a two-state solution, and left no room for peaceful coexistence between the two peoples.

The anti-Semitism commissioner is particularly critical of the formulation of “flooding the streets of Hamburg” on October 7th. Hamas itself called its terrorist attack the “Al-Aqsa Flood.” “Anyone who wants to wipe Israel off the map and calls for ‘complete liberation’ is simply denying the existence of the Jewish state,” said von Villiez. “And anyone who calls for ‘flooding’ the streets on October 7th of all days has to ask themselves whose ideological proximity they are placing themselves in.”

The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution had already warned against taking part in the demonstration. The authority sees evidence that the event takes place in a context that is likely to relativize, condone or ideologically support violence against Israel.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution cites the combination of the demonstration date on October 7th, the title “Three Years of Genocide”, the slogan “Until complete liberation”, the depiction of a map without Israel and references to the “Intifada” as particularly problematic. The authority also sees the call to “flood” the streets of Hamburg on October 7th as a reference to what Hamas calls “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”.

The “Thawra Hamburg” group is being observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected extremist case. Head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution Torsten Voß explained that the choice of October 7th for a demonstration in which the freedom of Palestine and the Intifada would be propagated went beyond pure solidarity with the Palestinians. That is why the state office warns against participation.