A public school teacher active in the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Germany is under investigation for posting comments indicating that the Jewish state should be destroyed, The Jerusalem Post reported.
In response to a comment on Youtube by another anti-Zionist who had “always wondered why they didn’t just carve out a piece of Germany and found the State of Israel in Baden-Württemberg,” a state in southwestern Germany, Chrisoph Glanz, a teacher in the city of Oldenberg, stated:
“an absurd idea? i don’t think so given that it was us germans who perpetrated the genocide of jews in europe. and an israeli artist came up with precisely that idea.” (sic)
Bianca Schöneich, a spokeswoman for the school system, told the Post on Friday that they were “examining all accessible information” as part of the legal process. German teachers are required to remain politically neutral because of their status as members of the civil service, she said.
Glanz, who uses the alias Christoph Ben Kush on social media, campaigns for BDS across Germany, has been labeled an anti-Semite and a racist by politicians from the Social Democratic Party. He denies the allegation.
His libelous comments about the Jewish state include, for example, accusations on Twitter that Israel practices “immoral child abuse under the disguise of memory of the Holocaust victims.”
The Post noted that Glanz’s interest in resettling Israelis to Germany is reminiscent of statements by former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has denied the Holocaust and called for the destruction of the State of Israel.
“lf European countries claim that they have killed Jews in World War II… why don’t they provide the Zionist regime with a piece of Europe,” Ahmadinejad said in 2005. “Germany and Austria can provide… two or three provinces for this regime to establish itself, and the issue will be resolved.”
Glanz declined to respond to email queries from the Post about his comments, although he wrote on an obscure U.S.-based anti-Zionist website, “Zionists are effectively trying to shut us up. They won’t succeed. We are well aware of the harassment going on in other parts of Germany, Europe and the U.S.”
Educators and experts on anti-Semitism have expressed dismay that Glanz teaches a “welcome course” for refugees, many of whom come from countries that are steeped in hatred of Jews and Israel.
A German intelligence document revealed a year ago by German newspaper Welt am Sonntag warned that many of the migrants fleeing the eastern Mediterranean countries for Europe were liable to be bringing with them “Islamic extremism” and “Arab anti-Semitism.” In March, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that refugees who find shelter in his country must reject anti-Semitism.
By: United with Israel Staff
With files from The Jerusalem Post