They are legendary in the era Angela Merkeand there were clashes between the Greek and German ministers of finance - Yanis Varoufakis i Wolfgang Schäuble. The first is the embodiment of the new European left, the second is the face of conservatives around the world. The Greek reproached the German that the rich European North is getting even richer by robbing the poor South and threatened Greece's exit from the Eurozone, the German demanded that the debtors pay what they owe and not talk nonsense. For the average German, Varoufakis was an unwelcome person on the European political scene, and especially in Germany, someone who preaches some kind of new-age communism, when in fact his compatriots should be making fun at the expense of hard-working German taxpayers.
Varoufakis is now banned from entering Germany. Not because of his radical leftist views and economic theories, but because of his pro-Palestinian statements. He was supposed to speak at the long-announced "Palestinian Congress" in Berlin, which was supposed to last for three days, from Friday to Sunday. For security reasons, the venue was kept a secret until the very beginning.
The congress, however, lasted only two hours, and then the Berlin police dissolved it. About 250 participants were invited to leave the hall. The reason: the audience was addressed by someone who was banned from political activity by the German authorities.
Varoufakis did not even reach Berlin, in fact he did not even go to Germany because, like some other scheduled speakers, he was banned from entering the country due to "anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda", reported AFP.
Varoufakis wrote on Platform X that he is prohibited from all political activities in Germany, which means that not only is he not allowed to enter the country, but he is also not allowed to address any gathering through Zum.
So much for free speech in Germany, critics protested.
We accuse
The name of the congress was "We accuse" - an allusion to the open letter that Emile Zola wrote in 1898 due to the scandal of the fabricated accusation against the French officer of the Jewish faith, Alfred Dreyfus, writes Deutsche Welle (DW).
In this case, the participants wanted to accuse the world public of watching silently the plight of the Palestinians and supporting Israel - including German arms exports to that country.
The organizers were pro-Palestinian associations, among them the questionable association "Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East", which, writes DW, is known not only for its statements against Israel, but also for its anti-Semitic outbursts.
When it was finally announced that the congress would be held in Berlin-Tempelhof, about 900 members of the police were ready, and the organizers were warned that they would not tolerate any insults, anti-Semitic slogans and accusations against Israel for alleged genocide, as had already been heard from some pro-Palestinian organization.
Determined action by the police
The congress started in the afternoon and lasted for two hours when the participants of the congress were addressed via video by "a person who is banned from public speaking in Germany" - as the Berlin police later announced, reports DW.
The policemen reacted quickly, they cut off the video connection, announced that the meeting was canceled for that day and the next two days, and about 250 participants were invited to leave the hall.
Official sources did not specify who the "banned" person was, but German media reported that it was Salman Abu Sita, an 80-year-old Palestinian activist and scholar who personally experienced the Nakba - the "catastrophe" as Palestinians call the expulsion during the 1948 war. when the state of Israel was established.
Abu Sita published over 400 works on the topic of the right of Palestinians to return to their properties, and was a member of the Palestinian National Council.
All of this would not actually have been the reason for the ban on public speaking in Germany, if last October, when the Hamas attack on Israel began, Abu Sita had not stated that, if he were younger, he would have participated in the attack himself.
Soon, the former finance minister of Greece, Yannis Varoufakis, came forward, claiming that the Germans had banned him not only from traveling to Germany, but also from all appearances - including online participation in the congress.
Lawsuit
The organizers of the "Palestinian Congress" in Berlin intend to take legal action against the police, who, in their opinion, "illegally" and "inappropriately" disbanded the demonstration, writes DW.
Their lawyer, Nadija Samur, claims that significantly milder measures were possible, and "every attempt to protect this gathering was torpedoed by the police."
He claims that "no punishable statements" were heard at the congress - which was also acknowledged by the police, and their lawyer also claims that the organizers "were not aware of the ban on public speaking" for Salman Abu Sita and that they were told about it only before the congress began.
However, the organizers obviously sensed that there would be problems with that speaker: he lives in Great Britain, writes DW, and was actually supposed to come to Berlin for this congress, but instead a video connection was arranged.
