By IRNA,
Berlin, : Berlin’s Arab community is to commemorate the first anniversary of what it labeled “Israeli massacres in Gaza” in Berlin on Friday.
Numerous Berlin-based Palestinian and Arab groups have called on Germans to join them for a candle light vigil in the center of the city to honor “the victims of Israeli aggression in Palestine and Lebanon,” according to a press release sent to IRNA’s Berlin office on Thursday.
Thousands of people, among them women and children, were killed and injured during the Israeli attacks in Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza in December 2008/January2009.
The brutal Israeli military aggression sparked international condemnation and outrage.
The statement urged an end to the occupation of Palestine and the lifting of the Israeli and Egyptian siege of Gaza.
Germany was the scene of mass protests against the brutal Israeli military aggression in Gaza.
Every second German views Israel as an “aggressive” country, according to a survey released by the Hamburg-based weekly news magazine stern.
Some 59 percent of Germans said Israel was ruthlessly pursuing its own national interests without even considering the interests of other countries.
Only 30 percent of those questioned said Israel was actually respecting human rights.
Asked about Israel’s right to exist, 13 percent opposed it.
Meanwhile, some 60 percent of Germans, especially the younger generation, said they felt no special responsibility towards Israel as a result of the Nazi genocide of Jews.
The opinion poll is in stark contrast to the official position of the German government which has reiterated its unwavering support for the illegal Jewish state.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has faced mounting public criticism for blaming only Hamas for triggering the Gaza onslaught and for closing her eyes to Israeli atrocities.
Critics of Merkel’s hardline pro-Israel policy in the Gaza war argue that Berlin’s position on the Palestinian crisis was almost totally identical to that of the illegal Jewish state.
Merkel strongly defended Israel’s slaughtering in Gaza, terming it “legitimate self-defense.”
Nearly 70 percent of Germans reject Merkel’s position on holding Hamas responsible for sparking the Israeli military onslaught in Gaza, according to an earlier opinion poll released by the private sat 1 broadcasting network.