Pro-Israel German MP dies at 35

Netanyahu: Missfelder was ‘a friend of the Jewish people’

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
PHILIPP MISSFELDER (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
PHILIPP MISSFELDER
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
German MP Philipp Missfelder, widely considered to be Berlin’s most passionate political advocate for Israel’s security, died on Monday at the age of 35 due to a pulmonary embolism.
“The far-too-early death of this member of the Bundestag was noted in Israel with deep sadness,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
“Missfelder was a friend of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. And he never hesitated to express his friendship with a clear voice. We express our condolences to his family and colleagues in the German Bundestag.”
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Yakov Hadas-Handelsman said: “The news of the far-too-early death of Philipp Missfelder has shocked all of us. Our thoughts and sympathy are with his family. Philipp Missfelder was a great representative of modern German politics and society. His death is a great loss for Germany, but also for Israel. With his sensitive and at the same time decisive engagement, Philipp Missfelder formed, and tirelessly developed, a special relationship between Israel and Germany,” Hadas-Handelsman added.
“He was a representative of the young German generation, which is engaged for Israel and the entire Jewish community, in equal measure for the meaning of the past and the future,” he continued. “We valued his attainments and we will commit ourselves that his accomplishments remain and that they are stood up for. We will keep Missfelder as a true friend in memory. I, personally, will miss our meetings and our regular conversations from world politics to football.”
Missfelder was a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and served as the foreign policy spokesperson for the CDU and Christian Social Union parties in the Bundestag.
A high-level official from the Jewish community in Washington told The Jerusalem Post that Missfelder’s death “is a huge loss for the friends of the Jewish people. He was one of the most dedicated European politicians on security matters and when it came to the defense of Israel, whether attacking UNHRC for its one-sided reports and resolutions against Israel, or the terror entity of Hezbollah, there is no one in Europe who was willing to take as a firm stand as Phillipp.”
The European Friends of Israel wrote that Missfelder will be remembered as a “as a courageous, passionate and outspoken supporter of Israel, a warrior against anti-Semitism and peerless champion of the special Israel-Germany alliance.”
Just last week, in reaction to a UN Human Rights Council report on Israel, Missfelder told the Post: “The Jewish state has the obligation and right to protect its territory and citizens.
Although Hamas frequently used human shields, Israel’s military did everything to prevent losses among the Palestinians.
Since the end of the operation, Israel has actively supported the rebuilding in Gaza. It would have been better in the UNHRC report to praise the rebuilding than to place blame.”
Missfelder was the first German politician to demand a complete ban of all of Hezbollah’s organization in the Federal Republic. He is survived by his wife, a physician,