Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor is leading one of the country’s most strategic missions globally; With looming threats on the horizon from Iran and its terror proxies, as well as the growing plague of antisemitism, the ambassador is making inroads with German communities and leaders to help them understand the Iranian threat, and to educate about modern antisemitism
Anti-Israel groups in Germany have expressed frustration over a German court that upheld a recent ban on anti-Israel demonstrations in Berlin due to their antisemitic and pro-violent messaging. The impetus for the ban? Repeated chants to destroy the state of Israel at previous demonstrations.
In fact, the Berlin Police denied permits multiple times for anti-Israel events in the past month, due to “antisemitic incitement of the people, glorification of violence, the conveyance of a willingness to use violence and thus to intimidation and violence.”
While the United States, the UK and many other Western democracies are falling short when faced with similar challenges, Germany is one of the only countries to take a bold stance against rallies that clearly call for violence against Jews, thanks to the tremendous efforts of Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor and his team.
“When they shout, ‘Kill the Jews’ that’s incitement … but you can say ‘the nation-state of the Jewish people,’ that’s [considered] fine. Yet if the same person would shout that about Ukraine, he would be thrown out of a five-story building here,” said Prosor.
“We as an embassy really pushed in all the relevant places here in Berlin on the political level, to make sure that – and, by the way, with success – they won’t be able to demonstrate again and shout those things,” he told Ynetnews.
Prosor’s work with the German government has helped lawmakers there in understanding, identifying, and dealing with all forms of antisemitism in Germany today, but there is no shortage of challenges.
The threat from Iran
But Prosor’s initiatives are not only focused on moving the needle on the rising trend of antisemitism. He is working closely with the German government on security cooperation, on curbing Iranian threats, and on supporting the people of Iran standing against the regime – something he views as not only strategic but moral.
“I think we in Israel, and not just in Israel, here in Germany, people look up to the women in Iran who basically are standing on the front lines really jeopardizing their lives. … We have to support them and we have to make sure that Europe does that [too],” he said.
While your ordinary German might not realize it, the people of Israel actually support the people of Iran, he noted.
“We have nothing against the Iranian people. We have a problem with those idiots, the mullahs and the ayatollahs … we know that, under the veil, you have a very diverse society. We look at Iran as a civilization. We have huge respect for the Iranians,” Prosor said.
When it comes to the German-Israel relationship, there is no daylight. Prosor defines “the Israel-Germany relationship as the number two strategic relation that Israel has after the U.S.” A strategic relationship that spans “all facets of culture, economy, university and research, and also military and defense cooperation.”
Terrorist designation for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps
For many months, one of Israel’s priorities in Europe has been to promote the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization – a move which, despite tremendous pressure, the EU is still balking at under the claim that doing so would destroy any leverage that Europe has left to negotiate with the regime. Prosor isn’t buying it.
“They’re using the same [excuse] they used with Hezbollah. It’s always this issue of ‘if we do that, we won’t have anyone we could talk to’ … Meanwhile, in Tehran, the Iranians are moving forward with treating their own population in a way which is indescribable,” he said.
But Prosor is not without hope: “Now, inside the EU, I think you see more and more countries that are willing to really make a decision on this. They are formally saying that they need the EU, a consensus in the EU, in order to pass it. Like always, consensus in the EU is not easy. But I can see how it’s evolving here. … I think we might have a chance to see a designation, which I think for all practical purposes is the right thing to do on the Iranian issue.”
Aside from the IRGC terrorist designation, when it comes to the Iranian threat against Israel, Prosor confirmed that Germany takes it extremely seriously. While there isn’t an official response from Germany on Israel’s actions against Iranian proxies and IRGC activity in Syria, the mere fact that there is silence says everything, and are a byproduct of Germany’s understanding of the threats Israel faces on a daily basis – threats that have the potential to endanger Germany as well.
“The biggest challenge is for Germany and Germans to understand that Israel is on the front line encountering phenomena that Western democracies are beginning to encounter … and it’s beginning to happen,” Prosor said.
“Suddenly they understand after many years, Germany has to defend itself. It’s not enough to conduct dialogue because Putin is not really interested in dialogue. So when you look at Germany now and the change in understanding that they need to defend themselves, from my point of view, this is the beginning of us in Israel trying to convey the message of ‘don’t point fingers at us,’ because at the end of the day, we are on the front lines and we’re doing it since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948,” he said.
While Germany shifts to a new reality in which it recognizes self-defense is a necessity for its own safety too, Israel – with the leadership of Ambassador Ron Prosor in Berlin – will stand firmly in support and in defense of its ally in Europe.
Source » ynetnews