ZGram - 9/19/2002 - "Möllemannchen did it again!" :)

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

September 19, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Now ask yourself:  Why should Germany even HAVE a national taboo?  Hmmm?

[START]

September 19, 2002

Israel critic breaks national taboo

By Roger Boyes

GERMANY'S election campaign took a nasty twist yesterday when a 
senior politician from the Free Democratic Party attacked the Israeli 
Government and a leading member of the German Jewish community.

Jürgen Möllemann, deputy chairman of the Free Democrats, has already 
been in hot water for declaring that there should be no taboo on 
criticising Israel. His comments in May almost ripped apart his 
party, but also gave it a temporary boost in the opinion polls. Many 
German voters agree with Herr Möllemann.

Now Herr Möllemann has returned to the fray. At an election rally in 
Aachen he was applauded when he said: "I will continue to describe 
Israel as a war-mongering state as long as Ariel Sharon, the Prime 
Minister, violates the Oslo peace treaty."

No one, he said, would stop him, not even "the Friedmanns of this 
world". Michel Friedmann, a Christian Democrat who is also deputy 
leader of the Jewish community, is one of Herr Möllemann's most 
outspoken critics.

For the Free Democrats, the incident is profoundly embarrassing: the 
party regards itself as the kingmaker in a tight election, capable of 
a coalition with either the Social Democrats or the Christian 
Democrats. Only last week Gerhard Schröder described Herr Möllemann 
as one of the sensible voices in the Free Democratic Party.

Herr Möllemann hatched the Free Democrat plan to declare 18 per cent 
support as its target. A liberal group appealing mainly to small 
businessmen and economic reformers, it rarely scores much more than 
10 per cent.

Both the phrasing and the timing - in the midst of a debate on 
whether Germany should fight Iraq - have ensured that Herr Möllemann 
is being ostracised by the political establishment.

Paul Spiegel, the head of the Central Council of German Jews, said: 
"Anyone who positions himself like this in the final stretch of an 
election campaign has disqualified himself from a democratic 
election."

Other Free Democrats, nervous that Herr Möllemann would deny their 
chance of power, distanced themselves. "An unbelievable error," 
Burkhard Hirsch said. "Not very sensible," Guido Westerwelle, the 
party leader, said.

Herr Möllemann chairs the German-Arab friendship society and has many 
contacts in the Middle East.

He has visited Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader.

[END]

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(SOURCE:  =1Fhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-420133,00.html )