German politician calls to ban Hizbullah
Oct. 10, 2008BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, jerusalem post correpondent, berlin , THE JERUSALEM POST
Hizbullah is a "terrorist organization, supported and financed by Iran and also supported by Syria," Dirk Niebel, the general-secretary of Germany's Free Democratic Party, told The Jerusalem Post this week in an exclusive interview following his visit to Israel last week.
The FDP is Germany's third largest political party.
When asked if what he thought of the idea of a parliamentary initiative to ban Hizbullah in Germany, Niebel said on Monday, "I think it's lovely."
German politician calls to ban Hizbullah
Oct. 10, 2008
BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, jerusalem post correpondent, berlin , THE JERUSALEM POST
Hizbullah is a "terrorist organization, supported and financed by Iran and also supported by Syria," Dirk Niebel, the general-secretary of Germany's Free Democratic Party, told The Jerusalem Post this week in an exclusive interview following his visit to Israel last week.
The FDP is Germany's third largest political party.
When asked if what he thought of the idea of a parliamentary initiative to ban Hizbullah in Germany, Niebel said on Monday, "I think it's lovely."
The Post reported in early August that Germany's lax anti-terrorist laws allow Hizbullah to operate in the country and to wire funds to families of suicide bombers who killed Israelis.
According to German intelligence reports, 900 Hizbullah members are based in 30 mosques and cultural centers in the Federal Republic.
While the Christian Democrat- and Social Democrat-led government coalition has refused to prohibit Hizbullah's activities, the FDP introduced a parliamentary inquiry in 2007 seeking a more exhaustive account of Hizbullah's network in the country. Responding to the information request, the government declared there was "no danger from Hizbullah supporters in Germany," yet acknowledged "that Islamic propaganda can cause or increase a radicalization of the Islamic scene in Germany."
Niebel, 45, volunteered at Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, near Kiryat Shmona, during 1982-1983. He referred this week to his early exposure to Hizbullah terrorism during the First Lebanon War in 1982, and stressed that Hizbullah was not an organization that could be worked with.
His visit to Israel last week included meetings with OC Ground Forces Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi and Yossi Gal, senior deputy director-general for Political Affairs in the Foreign Ministry.
Niebel said the Iranian threat dominated the discussions.
"I am firmly convinced that the Israelis have a fundamental interest in Iran not gaining possession of nuclear weapons. Moreover, the Europeans should also have a fundamental interest in Iran not gaining possession of nuclear weapons. On the other hand, I accept that Iran, of course, would like to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. It is urgently necessary, after the last report by the IAEA, which determined that Iran is working on developing weapons-grade fissionable material, to ensure that this development is stopped. I had the impression that on the Israeli side, military steps have not been ruled out, as a last resort, if they are possible," Niebel said.
The FDP advocates EU and UN sanctions against Teheran, and Niebel said the party would, "if necessary and expedient," support strengthening them. "Russia and China should be called upon to share in this," he added.
Asked about Israel's growing frustration with Germany's failure to implement unilateral sanctions against Teheran and stop its delivery of crucial engineering technology that supports the regime, Niebel said, "But it has to be the goal that we don't go our own way, but a joint European way."
"For many years we as the Federal Republic took the line of rapprochement through dialogue. That has not worked so far. At least not with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad," he added.
Sanctions, according to Niebel, should be implemented in a way designed "to give the population the impression that it would be good for them if they had a different government in Iran, without the population itself suffering... I think we cannot get Ahmadinejad to change his goals without strengthening the sanctions."
"People don't want to imagine it [an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel]. The Israelis' sensitivities are completely understandable. A large part of how Israelis understand their country is that the Jewish people should never again be a victim. That is one of the reasons Israel exists," Niebel said.
According to a Forsa Institute poll conducted between September 29 and October 2, the FDP is locked in a statistical dead heat with the Left Party with 13% of public support each. Elections are due in about a year.
When questioned about the Left Party foreign policy spokesman MP Norman Paech,
[...] * ( Aufgrund einer Abmahnung von Prof. Dr. Norman Paech MdB, Partei Die Linke, musste ich diese Passage von meiner Website herunternehmen.)
Niebel said, "The problem with the Left Party is that, in the East German tradition, they camouflaged their anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism over the decades.
"They always said, 'We have nothing against Jews, but the evil Zionists...' And this thinking, of course, is still part of the Left faction's foreign policy. An exception is someone like Gregor Gysi, for example, who of course sees things very differently because of his own background."
The co-chairman of the Left Party, MP Gregor Gysi, whose father Klaus was Jewish and served as the minister of culture and secretary of Church affairs in the former East Germany, sharply criticized the deeply ingrained anti-Zionism of his party in a widely publicized speech in April.
Niebel expressed extreme skepticism that Gysi's speech had resonated within the Left Party.