2024-09-23 17:01:33
Annalena Baerbock met with controversial personalities for a confidential dinner. Moderator Andrea Kiewel condemned the Foreign Minister’s behavior.
A meeting with critics of Israel, which Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attended, caused a stir. The meeting became public knowledge through Instagram posts. Journalist and activist Alena Jabarine shared a photo of a set table on her profile and wrote: “Last week I was invited to dinner with the Foreign Minister as part of a small, confidential circle.”
She did not want to go into detail, but said: “While the ICJ is investigating whether Israel is committing genocide, the West Bank is heading for ethnic cleansing, and we are witnessing Israeli war crimes on a daily basis, Germany is not playing a commendable role.” She had the opportunity to sit across from this “powerful woman and say what I wanted without stopping.” Activist Emilia Roig was also present at the meeting. She then summed up on her Instagram channel: “We took this opportunity very seriously and will continue to protest against the injustice and killings of people in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Both Alena Jabarine and Emilia Roig are controversial and publicly represent an anti-Israeli stance. Musician Michael Barenboim, who was also present at the dinner according to “Bild”, is also known as a sharp critic of Israel.
The newspaper asked the Foreign Office about the controversial dinner. The response was that the effort “against anti-Semitism, hatred and incitement in this country” was emphasized. Accordingly, it is necessary “to seek dialogue with those who partially or fundamentally disagree,” the website said. Annalena Baerbock herself has not commented on the dinner or the criticism.
Presenter Andrea Kiewel has now criticised Annalena Baerbock for sitting down at the same table with these controversial figures. In an open letter in the newspaper “Jüdische Allgemeine” she addresses the politician directly: “Do you really think that your dinner with the journalist Alena Jabarine, who publicly and unequivocally takes both anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic positions, has anything to do with an exchange with ‘partially or fundamentally different thinkers’?”
She continues: “Both Jabarine and Roig have been accusing Israel of being the aggressor since October 7, 2023 at the latest, without mentioning the actual course of events of the Hamas massacre or the Israelis who were murdered.” Annalena Baerbock’s guests do not “say a word about the hostages who were kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7. Or the corpses and body parts of the Hamas victims, which the Palestinian terrorist organization offers like goods for exchange,” says the 59-year-old.