Berlin Neo-Nazi Backs BDS Protest
— A prominent neo-Nazi activist from Berlin was spotted holding up a banner at a demonstration organized by the city’s chapter of the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement against Israel.
Marc Kluge, who in 2010 was identified by the anti-Israel website Indymedia as a central figure for neo-Nazis in Berlin and a former candidate for the far-right NPD party, was photographed on August 25 on Alexanderplatz holding a banner that read: “I boycott Israel, not the Jews! Racism kills! Made in Israel,” the Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism on Wednesday reported on its website.
In Germany’s 2007 regional elections, Kluge was the NPD’s official candidate in the northern Saxony-Anhalt region. Kluge, who was not elected, often speaks at NPD and other far-right rallies.
Collaboration between anti-Israel activists from the BDS movement, who in Europe often belong to far-left circles that include many individuals from Muslim families, and far-right ultranationalists like Kluge is rare and unpopular in both camps.
However, opposition to Israel and anti-Semitic attitudes have occasionally served as the bridge for partnerships between members of both groups in Europe, including in Hungary, where the far-right and anti-Semitic Jobbik party has forged an alliance with Iran and Hezbollah officials.
In France, Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, an anti-Semitic comedian of Cameroonian descent, in 2014 teamed up with Alain Soral, a Holocaust-denier and well-known far-right skinhead, to form a political entity they named the “Anti-Zionist Party.”
Earlier this week, the AfD far-right party made considerable gains in Germany’s regional election.
It won 21 percent of the vote and came in second in the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, putting the CDU of Chancellor Angela Merkel in third place. The election in Merkel’s home state was won by the Social Democrats, who obtained more 30 percent of the vote, and the election campaign was dominated by the issue of immigration from the Middle East.
Under Merkel, approximately a million people arrived in Germany from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.
The extreme-right NPD party, whose ban Jewish leaders are supporting, lost its representation in the state legislature.
The anti-immigrant AfD party is expected to win 15 percent of the vote in the Sept. 18 election in Berlin, a new poll showed Thursday, a result that would give the party seats in 10 of 16 German state assemblies.
Hello, fellow Forward reader! I’m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors.
I’m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today’s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward’s independence — made possible by the generosity of its membership.
The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news. From my position as board chair, I see an exciting future as we expand our position as the definitive independent voice of contemporary American Judaism.
That’s why I’m paying it Forward, by matching $36,000 of reader gifts. It’s an investment in the Forward’s newsroom, to continue telling the American Jewish story with truth and independence.
— Joel Brown, Forward board chair
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
