German Young Socialists Accused of Antisemitism for Solidarity Resolution With Palestinian Fatah Youth
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by Algemeiner Staff
The logo of the Palestinian Fatah movement includes the territory that is now Israel. Image: Palestinian Media Watch.
The youth wing of Germany’s main center-left political party was accused of antisemitism over the weekend after it passed a solidarity resolution with a Palestinian youth group.
The Jusos — the Socialist Youth Movement of the German SPD party — held a virtual congress during which a resolution that described the youth wing of Fatah, the main faction of the PLO, as a “sister organization.”
The resolution lamented the “current lack of prospects” for the Palestinians, saying that a general “resignation and frustration” was hampering efforts for a “peaceful solution.”
“We highly appreciate that our Palestinian sister organization, the Fatah Youth, is committed to a peaceful and sustainable solution to the conflict, even in the face of this difficult situation,” the resolution declared.
Critics rounded on the Jusos embrace of a Palestinian nationalist movement whose logo renders the entire territory that is now Israel in Palestinian colors.
“Normally, youth organizations stand out for their progressive thinking, but the Jusos do it backwards: Talking about peace, promoting antisemitism,” Frank Müller-Rosentritt — a parliamentarian from the FDP party — commented on Twitter.
Disapproval was also registered within the SPD, with one party official denouncing the description of Fatah as a “sister organization.”
“I regret that as a social democrat on this planet, I can only distance myself from you by a maximum of 20,000 km,” tweeted Stephan Schorn, chairman of the local SPD association in the city of Eppelborn.
In a separate article lambasting the Jusos, the right-wing tabloid Bild asked whether the group knew precisely “which Israel-haters they are showing solidarity with.”
The paper pointed out that at a Fatah Youth demonstration in 2018, some protesters had worn fake explosive belts and chanted slogans for Israel’s elimination. Meanwhile, its social media pages “demonized Israel and carried antisemitic clichés,” Bild noted.
