Israel slams German FM for 'dishonest rewriting' of Anne Frank's legacy

Germany's Foreign Ministry celebrated Iran's revolution in February at Tehran's embassy in Berlin.

anne frank 298.88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
anne frank 298.88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon issued a powerful statement against the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas for failing to internalize the lessons of the Holocaust by misrepresenting Anne Frank’s legacy.
Nahshon, one of Israel’s most seasoned diplomats, wrote on Twitter: “Anne Frank’s diary is NOT a warning about wishy-washy pseudo universal values! Anne Frank’s legacy is a warning against the hatred and persecution of JEWS. The attempt to ‘universalize the lessons of the Shoah’ is nothing less than a dishonest rewriting of history.”

 

Nahshon responded to a Wednesday tweet from Maas, which stated that “Anne Frank would have turned 90 today. Her diary is more relevant than ever before as a warning against discrimination, marginalization and persecution and as a symbol of humanity. We can learn from her.” 

 

Nahshon has  served as the deputy chief of mission to Israel’s embassy  in Germany and will be Israel’s next ambassador to Belgium.
Maas just returned from Iran last week after meeting with the regime’s leaders, including Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Maas, who said he went into politics “because of Auschwitz,” is working on jump-starting a financial mechanism to bypass US sanctions against the clerical regime in Tehran. Iran’s is considered by antisemitism experts to be the leading international state-sponsor of Holocaust denial and antisemitism.
The US State Department classifies Iran as the top state-sponsor of terrorism.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Jerusalem Post, “Why such desperation by Germany to save serial liar Genocide wannabe tyrants in Tehran? Time to use peaceful sanctions to stand up to tyrants and stand up for people of Iran.”
In February, Maas’s Foreign Ministry celebrated Iran’s revolution at Tehran’s embassy in Berlin. Maas’s undersecretary of state Niels Annes has said Germany will not outlaw all of Hezbollah, the chief proxy for Iran’s regime. Hezbollah has 1,050 operatives in Germany, according to German intelligence report from the Lower Saxony.
Germany’s federal economics minister Peter Altmaier tweeted about Frank: “Anne Frank could still be alive today, could have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But she was cheated of her youth, life and old age, friends and sorrows through the murder and extermination of the Jews Your lasting legacy: Never again! and: Nip things in the bud!
Altmaier has energetically worked to boost business with Iran’s regime and refused to answer Post queries about his pro-Iranian regime business policies and how that meshes with Germany’s policy to safeguard Israel’s security and combat antisemitism. Merkel told Israel’s Knesset in 2008 that Israel security is “non-negotiable” for her administration.
The press team for Maas emailed the Post, “Maas has repeatedly made clear his attitude toward the Holocaust and the fight against antisemitism.”