SHAFAQNA- The Israeli government sent an official letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel demanding Germany to halt its funding for the Jewish Museum in Berlin over an exhibition “that reflects the Muslim view of Bayt al-Maqdis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office said in an official statement that “the prime minister has pointed out to various world leaders the issue of funding Israeli and Palestinian NGOs, which portray Israeli soldiers as war criminals, support Palestinian and call for the boycott of the State of Israel. Israel will continue fighting these organizations, albawaba told.
In the letter sent directly to the chancellor’s bureau and not through the Israeli embassy, Merkel was asked to defund other organizations that Netanyahu claimed were anti-Israeli, washington daily mentioned .
The source of letter to the chancellor’s bureau was unclear, as it did not come from the Israeli embassy.
Copies of the seven-page letter were sent to Merkel’s office and to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, rather than to the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, as accustomed in such cases.
The reason behind the demand was the museum’s exhibition on Bayt al-Maqdis, which “presents a Muslim- perspective of the city,” haaretz reported.
In addition, Israel films are often screened at Berlin’s film festival , and the last year saw the inclusion of “The Disappeared,” an experimental documentary film that deals with one of the most taboo subjects of the Israeli Army — the rising number of soldier suicides, i24news.tv told.
The Jewish Museum said in a statement that “we believe open dialogue on controversial issues is crucial to allow (the museum’s) visitors to form their own position on the matter and judge it for themselves.”
Meanwhile, Meretz Chairwoman MK Tamar Zandberg criticized Israel’s demand.
“While Netanyahu acts against the Jewish Museum in Berlin, he is aiding Hungary’s anti-Semitic Prime Minister in establishing a dubious Holocaust Museum that absolves Hungary from its part in the Holocaust.”
However, the German government confirmed that there were discussions with Israeli leaders regarding the funding of certain organizations, Haaretz reported, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing policy.
Recently, Israel’s Minister of Culture Miri Regev introduced the controversial ‘loyalty in culture’ bill that would allow cuts to government funding for institutions not showing ‘loyalty’ to the state.
In addition to the Jewish Museum, the letter details about 12 NGOs that are involved in anti-Israeli propaganda or support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction movement (BDS) —among them the Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale, which allegedly hosts BDS supporters; Women Wage Peace; Bread for the World; Action Medeor; the Catholic Relief Services; and the Israeli +972 magazine, which accuses Israel of having an apartheid regime and is endorsed by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.