Memorials and vigils were held across Germany on Monday as the world marked the first anniversary of the unprecedented terrorist attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A projection of the Israeli flag illuminated the iconic Brandenburg Gate in the heart of the German capital Berlin after nightfall, where earlier in the day activists had gathered to read the names of 1,170 people who were killed and 255 who were abducted in Israel on October 7, 2023.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday called on the whole country to uphold the principle of “Never again,” a phrase used in Germany in reference to the horrors of the Holocaust, when the country’s Nazi leadership systematically murdered 6 million Jews.
Hamas’ assault on communities and a music festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, is considered to be the worst mass attack on Jews since the crimes of the Nazi era.
Post-war German leaders cited the country’s historical responsibility in forging close ties with Israel, and Germany remains a close ally and supporter of the Jewish state.
Around 100 hostages taken by Hamas are believed to remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip, although it is unclear whether they are still alive.
Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, leading to international condemnation and fears of a regional escalation that have only worsened amid the Israeli military’s recent offensive in Lebanon and a barrage of missiles fired at Israel from Iran.
War in Gaza ‘killed too many’
Steinmeier, who addressed an interfaith memorial service in Berlin on Monday evening, urged citizens against thoughtlessly condemning Israel.
The war in Gaza “has killed too many people already and caused too much suffering – for Israelis and Palestinians, and now also for the people of Lebanon,” Steinmeier said.
“Questions are being asked more and more loudly and urgently, and public debate is intensifying – less about whether Israel has a right to defend itself, and more about where the limits to any right to defend oneself lie,” he said.
He said he would “like to see an end to the dying in the Middle East,” but warned against “simple, simplistic” advice.
“The deaths in Gaza, the hunger, the destruction would not have happened without the attack and the massacres of October 7 last year,” he said.
Steinmeier also expressed his horror at anti-Semitism in Germany and the feeling of insecurity among Jews in Germany.
“But however troubled we may be, we must not lose our bearings,” Steinmeier warned.
Attacks and threats or demonstrators calling for a Middle East without Israel amounted to hatred of Jews, he added. “We must not and will not tolerate that.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations
Several pro-Palestinian rallies were held in cities across the country, including in Frankfurt, where a rally was held after a court overturned a ban imposed by the city.
Another demonstration was held in Berlin, where a march protesting the war in Gaza was closed down on Sunday after some of the 3,500 participants clashed with police.
Authorities in the German capital deployed more than 2,000 officers on Monday in an effort to secure the vigils and keep the peace.
Police made several arrests at an afternoon protest in Berlin after protesters expressing solidarity with Palestine allegedly threw bottles at police and chanted the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a phrase that German authorities have sought to ban as a Hamas propaganda slogan which calls for the eradication of Israel.
Scholz says Germany stands with Israel
The aftermath of October 7 has proved particularly sensitive in Germany, which sees Israel’s security as a “reason of state” – a phrase alluding to Berlin’s historical responsibility to the state of Israel following the Holocaust.
However, the country’s significant Muslim minority and pro-Palestinian activists have been alienated by what they perceive as the German government’s failure to address the suffering of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking in Hamburg on Monday, Scholz called for a ceasefire in the Middle East and expressed solidarity with Israel.
“Dear friends in Israel, we feel for you … we stand on your side,” the chancellor said at the opening of a sustainable development conference in the northern German city.
Scholz also addressed the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Nothing good can come out of the daily experience of violence and hunger,” the chancellor said. “That is why the federal government is calling for a ceasefire, for the release of hostages, for a political process, even though it now seems further away than ever.”
The only solution to the conflict, for Scholz, is a two-state solution, so that “Israelis and Palestinians can live alongside each other permanently.”
