Jette Nietzard apologizes for controversial Gaza video

Jette Nietzard apologized for a much criticized video for the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The youth alliance published a corresponding statement from her spokeswoman on the Instagram platform. “Yesterday I uploaded a video to a topic that takes the entire association emotionally,” it says. “And I made a mistake for which I want to apologize openly and honestly. Especially with Jews and Jews worldwide and in Germany.”

In the now deleted video, Nietzard had played down the massacre of the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7, 2023. Since then, “over 50,000 Palestinians and 1200 Israelis have died in military operations,” said Nietzard in the clip. She called the victims of the Hamas massacre in one breath with Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip. In addition, she made the Hamas attack look like it was a military operation that was only aimed at military destinations in Israel.

In the Instagram post, the spokeswoman and co-chair of the Green Youth now described the Hamas attack as a “cowardly terrorist attack”. She never relativized the suffering, according to Nietzard, but the consequences of October 7th for Jews in Israel and want to understand and address worldwide. “I’m sorry that it was not successful.”

For his part, the Green Youth Association emphasized that they also wanted to draw attention to the suffering in the Gaza Strip. “We as the green youth are due to the fact that the war has to come to an end there,” it says. But you would also stand for “the security of Jewish life”. The security of Israelis and Palestinians is “inseparable from each other”.

For her statements in the video, Jette Nietzard had previously been sharply criticized by the Green politician and President of the German-Israeli Society, Volker Beck. “Israel demon and trivialize the Hamas cannot remain without consequences,” he wrote on social media.

It is not the first time that the young Greens with her views and statements make headlines: a few weeks ago, the 26-year-old had trouble trouble with a sweater. In a post – also on Instagram – she posted a picture of herself. On the top was the lettering “ACAB” – abbreviation for “all cops are bastards” (“All police officers are pigs”). In the picture on her private Instagram account, she also wore a cap with the capitalism-critical inscription “Eat the Rich”. Many Greens politicians reacted outraged, some also suggested their resignation. Nietzard refused to resign.

Nietzard has not yet apologized for the police statement. In the star-In discussion, she only admitted that she did not all have all the officials per se, but “the system behind it”. Nietzard indirectly accused the police of having a racism problem and pointed out that she had other sweaters with messages in her closet. It will be interesting to see which clothing is polarized next.