As the anti-militarist alliance „Rheinmetall Entwaffnen“(1) we want to speak out on the handling in the FRG of the current escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. For decades there has been an asymmetrical war between Israel and the Palestinian population in Gaza and the occupied territories, which is an expression of an unresolved political conflict. A war in which massacres of the civilian population are perpetrated again and again. We condemn these crimes – and the war in which millions of people are cut off from access to water, electricity and food. A war in which hundreds of thousands are once again displaced. A war in which more protagonists than Israel and Hamas are involved. Germany is also involved by supplying weapons of war. Media and politics are currently trying to prevent any visible dissent to the Israeli warfare.
We are confronted by the media with horrific images of sexualized violence by Hamas against women. Images that exist in every war. In every country where war is waged, the subjugation of women is seen as a symbol of victory over the enemy. We condemn this sexualized violence against women as the epitome of patriarchal violence. Rape and sexualized violence in war are only possible because they are tolerated and used worldwide as an expression of patriarchal violence. Whether in Israel, Palestine, Kurdistan or elsewhere. We also condemn the instrumentalization of these images, which are deliberately used in the media to justify Israel’s attacks on the population of Gaza.
With the declaration of unrestricted solidarity of German politicians towards the Israeli state, the FRG also contributes to the dehumanization of the entire Palestinian population. Palestinians are portrayed by the state of Israel as terrorists, „human animals“ or as anti-Semitic. Germany sides with the Israeli state, which has announced that it will continue to intensify the murderous repression that has been taking place for decades in the open-air prison of Gaza.
The FRG, meanwhile, declares any expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people to be a hostile act and treats it as such. This goes so far that even a rally of Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East was banned and the Palestinian author Adania Shibli will not be awarded her literature prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Anti-war rallies and pro-Palestinian demonstrations are defamed in the media as anti-Semitic hate demonstrations and covered with repression. Organizations such as the prisoner support organization Samidoun are to be banned. Without any legal basis, the police prohibit the display of Palestinian flags and symbols.
We do not accept when any criticism of the policies of the Israeli state is equated with anti-Semitism. We oppose racist agitation and stand with progressive forces in Israel and Palestine against war and occupation.
Rheinmetall Entwaffnen, October 15th, 2023
(1) Literally translates as „Disarm Rheinmetall“. Rheinmetall is Germany’s biggest producer and exporter of arms.