How Baerbock reacts to the refused handshake in Syria

Her visit to Syria was watched carefully: Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock traveled to Syria together with her French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot to meet the new leadership there.

Just a few weeks ago, the Islamist rebel group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew the dictatorship of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad. Now Ahmed al-Sharaa is the de facto ruler of Syria.

The HTS appears moderate, the first states are again putting out feelers to Syria – including Germany and France, which were traveling on behalf of the EU.

But during the double visit to Damascus there was a scandal: Baerbock had to forego a handshake from al-Sharaa, who received the two politicians in al-Assad’s former palace. Barrot also did not extend his hand for a handshake. While the Islamist did not greet Baerbock with a handshake, he did extend his hand to the Frenchman.

After the Frenchman first placed his right hand on the heart area as a greeting, he then briefly took al-Sharaa’s hand. All Baerbock could do was clasp her own hands and nod.

This didn’t seem to be a big surprise for Baerbock, who wasn’t wearing a headscarf during the encounter.

“It was already clear to me when I arrived that there obviously wouldn’t be any ordinary handshakes here,” said the Green politician when asked by a journalist.

But the foreign politician doesn’t want to let the incident go. It was also made clear to the Islamist hosts that they disapproved of this practice, said Baerbock.

Above all, it was made clear in the conversation that women’s rights are an indicator of how free a society is, said Baerbock.

In the end, things seemed to be a little more conciliatory – or the handshake apparently wasn’t so difficult at the end of the conversation. It was heard from delegation circles that al-Sharaa, who until recently was banned as a terrorist in the West, had extended his hand again at the end of the conversation, but that there was no longer a handshake.

However, one expert is concerned. Volker Perthes, the former head of the Science and Politics Foundation, viewed the refused handshake as a bad sign.

“That’s not good, even if we know it from other countries where extremely conservative Islamic men are in power: Iran, for example, and until some time ago also Saudi Arabia,” Perthes told the star.

He added: “This is not part of the tradition in Syria. I hope that al-Sharaa will also be criticized for this in Syria.”

Is the behavior of the Islamist al-Sharaa, who has recently started wearing a suit instead of a military uniform, an expression of disrespect towards the Green politician and his misogyny in general?

It’s not quite that simple: a handshake between a strange man and a strange woman is unusual among believers in Islamic societies – and from the point of view of some legal scholars, it is even forbidden. But there is no clear rule and no dominant religious custom.

Because of the refused handshake, the actual purpose of the two foreign ministers’ trip was pushed into the background: the conditions for Europe’s support.

“We now need a political dialogue that includes all ethnic and religious groups, including all people, especially women in this country,” said Baerbock. Europe will support Syria, but will not become a financier of new Islamist structures.

The skepticism appears to many to be justified: Al-Sharaa was previously known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. The HTS group emerged from the Al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.