Germany disciplines diplomats over anti-Israel and anti-Semitic 'likes'
The country's Foreign Ministry says at least 10 people had access to the social media account of Germany's envoy to the Palestinian territories which last week promoted tweets by a Holocaust denier and videos praising attacks on IDF troops
The heart icon for several tweets criticizing Jews and Israel was clicked some two weeks ago an account belonging to Germany's envoy to the Palestinian territories, Christian Clages. The tweets included a video praising attacks on IDF soldiers as well as footage of David Duke - former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and Holocaust denier - discuss an "allege" massacre of Jews.
The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that 10 people had access to the "Germany in Ramallah" Twitter account and it wasn't clear who clicked the "likes." The ministry says the account wasn't secured against unauthorized users.
We have been made aware that a number of anti-Semitic messages were liked via this account. We repudiate such messages in the strongest terms. We sincerely apologize & will ensure that this misconduct cannot be repeated in the future.
— Germany in Ramallah (@GerRepRamallah) July 30, 2019
➡️read our full message: pic.twitter.com/s9vrgaX6oq
It says the head of Germany's office in Ramallah, Christian Clages, and others were disciplined. The social media guidance sent to all diplomatic posts clarifies "that even 'likes' are understood as expressions of opinion of the German government" and now require the approval of two people.
The ministry says it "publicly made it clear the contents of the tweets concerned are unacceptable, contradict the attitude of the German government, and are not tolerated."
