GERMANY: ISRAELI PRESIDENT MOSHE KATSAV CONTINUES VISIT AMID CONCERNS OF GERMAN ANTI-SEMITISM

Record ID: 400747

  • Title: GERMANY: ISRAELI PRESIDENT MOSHE KATSAV CONTINUES VISIT AMID CONCERNS OF GERMAN ANTI-SEMITISM
  • Date: 31st May 2005
  • Summary: (EU) BERLIN, GERMANY (MAY 30, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. MV WAITER STANDING IN DOORWAY, COCKTAIL PARTY IN BACKGROUND; MV GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER JOSCHKA FISCHER (ON RIGHT) SPEAKING TO MEMBERS OF ISRAELI DELEGATION 0.07 2. MV GERMAN PRESIDENT HORST KOEHLER AND ISRAELI PRESIDENT MOSHE KATSAV WITH WIVES WALKING INTO ROOM; MV FISCHER WALKING TOWARDS KOEHLER AN
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA570PSJWSSB9NSJK131L9L9OG6
  • Story Text: Israeli President Katsav continues his visit to Germany amid concerns of German anti-Semitism.

    Israel is concerned about signs of anti-Semitism in Germany,
    although it recognises a broad determination in the country to combat it,
    visiting Israeli President Moshe Katsav said on Monday (May 30, 2005).

    "Unfortunately we see signs that cause us great worry,"
    Katsav said during a visit to mark 40 years since the resumption of
    Israeli-German diplomatic relations.

    "But I am convinced that German democracy has the tools to deal
    with these signs." he added, following his meeting with German President
    Horst Koehler.

    Katsav's comments follow reports that neo-Nazis boosted their numbers
    in 2004 and the success of far-right parties in gaining seats in two German
    regional assemblies last September.

    One party, the more radical NPD, refused to take part in a minute's
    silence for Nazi victims and referred to the wartime Allied bombing of Germany
    as a holocaust.

    Koehler assured Katsav, who is due to address Germany's lower house of
    parliament on Tuesday (May 31), that Germany was taking every effort to fight
    anti-Semitism, notably by teaching children about the murder of some six
    million Jews by the Nazis.

    Koehler told Germans during commemorations to the mark the 60th
    anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe that they could not simply
    consign Nazi horrors to the past and repeated that message on Monday.

    Katsav said he respected German efforts to come to terms with its past
    over the last 60 years.

    "German democracy is a very solid and a ripe democracy. The
    determination of German politicians to combat anti-Semitism is
    impressive," Katsav said.

    The two countries aim to mark the anniversary of resumed diplomatic
    ties with a fund to promote youth, academic and cultural exchanges.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register