German political leader speaks against ‘double standard’ in Gaza

By Sevim Dağdelen

For Workers World, only the Israeli state and its imperialist backers are the terrorists. To present our readers with the breadth of the movement opposing genocide in Gaza, however, we publish other voices than our own. The author of this commentary, published Oct. 28 in the German daily newspaper junge Welt on Oct. 28, was elected to the German Parliament (Bundestag) from the Left Party. 

The German coalition government, its Christian Democratic opposition, the far right (some say neo-Nazi) Alliance for Germany (AfD) and even the leadership of the Left Party support Israel against the Palestinians and repress those who oppose the genocide in Gaza. Dağdelen, who switched to Sahra Wagenknecht’s new party this October, and who campaigns against NATO, reflects the opinion of many in this major imperialist land who criticize German support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.  Translation: John Catalinotto.

The United Nations General Assembly has been debating the war in the Middle East for days. Even U.S. and NATO allies in the region, such as Jordan, have denounced the humanitarian situation in Gaza and presented a resolution for an immediate ceasefire. Jordan’s Queen Rania pointed to a “blatant double standard” because “civilian casualties in Gaza” were not condemned, unlike victims of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.

Indeed, the German government refuses to provide a classification under international law of the bombardments of Gaza by the Israeli Air Force. In the European Union, the German government prevents advocacy of a humanitarian cease-fire.

Anyone who disagrees is defamed and ostracized as a supporter of Hamas. This includes someone like the chair of the Munich “Security Conference,” Christoph Heusgen, a hard-core transatlanticist [someone backing U.S. foreign policy] whose opposition is based not on humanitarian grounds but on geopolitical insight concerned about complete self-isolation of the West. Heusgen warned “of a conflagration” in the region should Israel begin the announced ground offensive.

As I said, Heusgen is no dove of peace, but absurd accusations are being used in an attempt to drastically narrow the public discourse and present the continuation and expansion of the war as having no alternative. This is another reason why the West’s allies in the Arab world are dismayed by the unconditional support for a continuation of the war, which primarily affects civilians. This is also against the backdrop of massive U.S. support through weapons, funding and close coordination with NATO.

U.S. enemy of peace

Only unconditional support [for Israel’s actions] can plausibly explain the U.S. veto of a humanitarian cease-fire in the U.N. Security Council. It is becoming abundantly clear that in the final analysis it is the United States that is preventing a two-state solution within the 1967 borders and a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and international security guarantees for Israel.

The war, however, not only leads to an international self-isolation of the West as a result of the deadly double standards on display, but also to a collapse of reason in the West itself. This can be seen, for example, in the conspiracy ideology of the self-declared military expert and chairwoman of the defense committee [in the German Parliament] Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann.

“And you have to make one thing clear: These two conflicts, these two attacks — Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel — is (sic!) directly related. By the way, this was on the day of Putin’s birthday, October 7. These are no coincidences,” Strack-Zimmermann said unquestioningly and unchallenged in the ZDF television interview. There is almost no more powerful way to demonstrate the destruction of reason in times of war.

What remains the order of the day is not allowing oneself to be played for a fool. Instead, insist that there is no military solution to this conflict and that there is an urgent need for a humanitarian ceasefire.