Pro-Israel groups counter-protest Islamists in Berlin

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
08/29/2011 02:05


Annual pro-Iranian Al-Quds day rally in center of German capital’s shopping district calls for Israel’s destruction.

BERLIN – An amalgam of students, Jewish community members, politicians, a leading Iranian dissident and pro-Israel groups pitted themselves on Saturday against roughly 1,000 pro-Iranian regime Islamists, who celebrated Al-Quds Day, which urges the abolition of the Jewish state, in the center of the German capital’s lively shopping district.

Islamists chanted “Israel is a terrorist state” and held signs declaring that “Israel is not a Jewish state” and “Israel out of Palestine.” The mainly German- Muslim supporters also displayed photos of Iran’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and his successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Their calls for the end of Israel were countered with shouts of “Free Gaza from Hamas” and banners reading “Against anti-Semitism and Islamism: No Al-Quds Day” and “Solidarity with Israel!”

Khomeini established Al- Quds Day in 1979 to call for the elimination of Israel, and marches honoring Al-Quds Day have been held in Berlin since 1996, as well as across the Arab world.

Jochen Feilcke, the head of the German-Israeli Friendship Society in Berlin and Potsdam, told the pro-Israel crowd that “we condemn that radical Islamic groups are marching again through Berlin.”

He added that “once again a participation from neo-Nazis and others sympathizing with the mullah regime is expected” and their goal is to agitate against Israel.

A Berlin police spokesman told The Jerusalem Post that “300-400” pro-Israel demonstrators were present at the event titled “No Al-Quds Day,” to protest the march of extreme Islamists calling for the destruction of Israel.


http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=235798