Wiesenthal may list German diplomat for antisemitism on its top 10 list

Exclusive: Cooper said that “there must be a price to pay by support of people who want to get rid of Israel” and say it is “worse than apartheid.” Cooper said this is “over the top antisemitism.”

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Rabbi Abraham Cooper associate dean and director (photo credit: Courtesy)
Rabbi Abraham Cooper associate dean and director
(photo credit: Courtesy)
BERLIN – The international human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Rabbi Abraham Cooper told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that the NGO is considering including the senior-level German diplomat Andreas Görgen on its top 10 list of worst outbreaks of antisemitism and anti-Israelism for 2020 due to his support of antisemitic positions.
Rabbi Cooper, the associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center, said that “Andreas Görgen would be a candidate, especially because of his rank and the timing his tweets and statement that were leading up to Yom Hashoah [Holocaust Remembrance Day].”
Cooper said that “there must be a price to pay by support of people who want to get rid of Israel,” and say it is “worse than apartheid.” Cooper said this is “over the top antisemitism.”
Görgen affirmatively tweeted articles in favour of the pro-BDS academic Achille Mbembe, who has claimed the Jewish state is worse than former apartheid regime in South Africa and called for the “global isolation” of Israel.
Mbembe signed a BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) petition against academics from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Critics, including Germany's federal commissioner to combat antisemitism Felix Klein, said Mbembe trivialized the Holocaust via his comparison of the Shoah with apartheid. Klein classified Mbembe's language as antisemitic. 
Cooper said the fact this [Görgen's support for Mbembe] is coming from “the top echelons of the Foreign Ministry is troubling.”
The Post reported on Görgen’s tweets in favor of Mbembe last week.
Cooper asked “What do we can expect from the uneducated man on the street” who reads about antisemitism studies and reports when the “gatekeeper for cultural and educational communications for the foreign ministry  is validating this kind of hate around Yom Hashoah.”
Cooper added “Why would anybody would be surprised what is happening on the streets of Germany” in connection with rising Jew-hatred when Görgen is endorsing an alleged antisemite.
“It is past due for the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who said he went into politics because of Auschwitz, to  start showing in real terms and real life his commitment to fight antisemitism, especially when it rears its head in his Foreign Ministry,” said Cooper.
“I am worried sick that for the second year in row we have consider naming a top echelon official of the German government in the top 10. We need the German Government to act swiftly against antisemitism expressed from within its own diplomats and gatekeepers.”
When asked about the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s criticism of Görgen and his tweets in support of an academic who allegedly trivialized the Holocaust and spreads antisemitism, the Foreign Ministry told the Post on Friday: “”We ask for your understanding that we won’t comment on the issue mentioned.”
Cooper said on Friday that the German foreign minister needs to launch an investigation into Görgen’s tweets in support of Mbembe.
The Wiesenthal center’s top Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff urged Maas to discharge Görgen last week.
Last year, the director of the German Foreign Ministry’s representation for the Palestinian territories, Christian Clages, was revealed to have liked scores of antisemitic tweets while using his government Twitter feed. Clages retained his job. The German paper Bild broke the story about Clages.
The Foreign Ministry disciplined Clages for liking neo-Nazi and KKK tweets. Görgen has refused to answer numerous Post media queries.


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