By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT


05/30/2012 02:17




Leading German NGOs accuse Mayor Schröter of promoting boycott that recalls Nazi-era campaign “Don’t buy from Jews.”
Leading German NGOs on Tuesday accused Social
Democratic Mayor Albrecht Schröter, from the city of Jena in the state
of Thuringia, of advocating a boycott of Israeli products that is so
aggressive it recalls the Nazi-era campaign “Don’t buy from Jews” and contributes to the delegitimization of the Jewish state.In an email to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Kevin Zdiara, deputy representative of the German- Israeli friendship
society in Erfurt, Thuringia’s capital city, wrote, “The campaign makes
no distinctions; de facto, all Israeli products are to be boycotted,
which does not contribute to peace. It also strongly recalls the Nazi
slogan ‘Don’t buy from Jews.’” Zdiara added that “Schröter has been
known for years for his attitude toward Israel. The mayor has
participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the West Bank and with a lecture at a pro-Hamas conference in Bad Boll. Schröter is an example of the classic Christian peace activist who only accuses Israel but closes his eyes to Palestinian crimes.”
Klaus Faber and Daniel Kilpert, two representatives of the Coordinating
Council of German Non-governmental Organizations against Anti-Semitism,
told the Post on Tuesday in a
statement that the mayor’s conduct “crosses the line into anti-Semitism
and delegitimizes the state of Israel. Why does Mr. Schröter see no
occasion to call for a boycott against products from the anti-Semitic
Islamic Republic of Iran, or from North Sudan, which has engaged in many
massacres?” Klaus Faber, a prominent member of the Social Democratic
Party, served as a high level minister in the department for education, science, research, culture and religious communities in the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt.Dr. Reinhard Schramm, the deputy chairman of the Jewish community in Thuringia, told the Post on Tuesday in a telephone interview that the “boycott call is indecent and painful.
The Mayor Dr. Schröter should not resign because he is not an
anti-Semite. But he should know that with his signature he fosters
anti-Semitic tendencies. Pax Christi is steeped in anti-Semitism because
its variation of anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. “ Dr. Schramm is a
retired professor of engineering and survived the Holocaust in hiding
with his mother, Rosel.
Mayor Schröter signed the German catholic
peace organization Pax Christi’s petition “Occupation tastes bitter”
that calls for a sweeping boycott of Israeli goods. Dr. Shimon Samuels, director of international relations for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the Post that Schröter’s call for a boycott “can work both ways. It is bad for Jena businesses.”

Samuels
said that what Schröter was doing was “racist,” adding that the mayor
had “brought a shadow over the city of light.” Jena is known for its
optics-based industries.Barbara Glasser, a spokeswoman for Schröter, told the Post by phone that the mayor is “guaranteed not an anti-Semite. He is for peace. He was awarded a civil courage prize.”

Zdiara, of Erfurt’s German-Israeli friendship society, says Pax Christi is known for its anti-Israel attitude.

“For
years it has demonized only Israel and now, with its call for a
boycott, has taken the side of the most aggressive Israel haters, whose
goal is to delegitimize the Jewish state,” he said of the organization.http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=271950