Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was accused of inviting pro-Palestinian activists to dinner. She has now commented on the incident.
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has defended her controversial dinner with Israel critics. “Especially in times of crisis, when hatred and incitement, when anti-Semitism, racism, misanthropy are spreading, it is so important to engage in dialogue – especially with those whose opinions you do not share, in order to curb hatred and incitement,” the politician told the star on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“If I only spoke to those who agreed with me, then I would be doing my job absolutely wrong.” For her, seeking dialogue with people who think differently is an “absolute matter of course.”
TV presenter writes open letter about Annalena Baerbock
Previously, several media outlets had reported that Baerbock had hosted pro-Palestinian activists for a confidential dinner, including journalist Alena Jabarine and political scientist Emilia Roig. The latter, among other things, accused Israel in a post on social media of being a “colonization” and of having been accompanied by “terrorization and murder” for over 70 years.
The reporting was triggered by the presenter Andrea Kiewel (“ZDF-Fernsehgarten”). In an open letter in the “Jüdische Allgemeine” newspaper, she accused Baerbock of dining with “enemies of Israel”. Jabarine had “publicly and unambiguously taken both anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic positions” and, like Emilia Roig, had kept quiet about the Hamas massacres of October 7 and her role in the current escalation in the Middle East.
Source: Stern
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