The police lettering is on an emergency vehicle. © Christoph Soeder/dpa/Symbolbild
Posters in Berlin-Neukölln are agitating against Israel. The district intervenes. He sees social peace at risk. Israel's ambassador Prosor speaks of a disgrace in the heart of Berlin.
Berlin - Unknown persons have hung up anti-Semitic posters in Berlin-Neukölln - now the police are investigating for incitement to hatred and damage to property. The state security responsible for political crimes had taken over the investigation, the authority said on Wednesday on request. According to its own statements, the German-Israel Society (DIG) filed a complaint for supporting terrorism. It calls for a ban on the Palestinian network Samidoun. According to a report in the "B.Z." on the posters, this is said to have asked for support from prisoners and so-called martyrs. Other posters approved rocket attacks on Israel, according to the Neukölln district office.
"We were informed about the posters on Friday," said the spokesman for the district office, Christian Berg, the German Press Agency. "We're assuming they were hung sometime in the middle of last week, but we can't say how many there were." He had made himself a picture of it on Friday. At that time, only two posters were still hanging. In addition, he had noticed paint smearing in the colors of the Palestinian flag on five or six trees.
According to its own information, the district office also had photos of other posters. "We had the Arabic text translated to check the content. There is approval of rocket attacks on Israel, and there is talk of revenge for a Palestinian martyr, for example," the spokesman said.
Israel's Ambassador Ron Prosor commented on Twitter. "When I arrived here less than a year ago, I didn't expect the streets of Neukölln to resemble those of Gaza," he wrote. "This terrorist propaganda in the heart of Berlin is a disgrace. Those who have instigated this should be punished."
District Mayor Martin Hikel (SPD) told the "B.Z." that such propaganda has no place on Neukölln's streets. "The anti-Semitic agitation of Samidoun stirs up hatred and endangers social peace in Neukölln."
Spokesman Berg added that the whole thing was part of the Samidoun propaganda, which has been increasingly noticeable on Sonnenallee for several weeks. "The demonstrations there in April were partly carried by Samidoun. We know that this is a very small group that is specifically trying to appeal to young people."
DIG President Volker Beck declared on Wednesday: "If the sentence: 'There is no place for anti-Semitism in Germany' is to have any meaning, there can be no place for an organization like Samidoun in Germany."
According to security circles, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution considers the Palestinian network to be hostile to Israel and close to the radical Palestinian organization PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). Dpa
