25 Oct 23 Israel and Ukraine – United in suffering
In this difficult time, during which Russia has unleashed a war in Europe with its invasion of Ukraine, the whole world trembled again as the media reported further terrible news.
On 07 October, Hamas militias from the Gaza Strip entered Israel’s border areas and carried out a cruel pogrom against the Jewish population.
The attackers, armed to the teeth, murdered entire families, spared neither women nor children, and abducted several hundred people. We can trace similarities to the terrible events that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There, too, civilians, especially children, were murdered or deported somewhere deep in the country’s interior. The world has been discussing this since 7 October. Some of these discussions reveal, in addition to compassion and outrage, the terrible face of anti-Semitism, a disease that in various forms destroys rationality and poisons people’s souls.
The Foundation Remembrance, Education, Culture and the association Meetingpoint Memory Messiaen e.V. utterly condemn the anti-Semitism, the murder and the crimes of the Hamas terrorists.
Poles and Germans have worked for decades on reconciliation and on coming to terms with the tragedy of the Second World War. This also includes the murder of the European Jews. We are a society that have had to experience what anti-Semitism and chauvinism lead to. We extend our deepest condolences to the families in Israel who mourn their dead and an appeal to the Palestinians in Gaza: say NO to Hamas and all those who incite you to violence and murder.