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Two German politicians, Ralf Stegner of the Social Democrats and Marcus Faber of the Free Democrats, have defended the government’s decision to suspend aid payments to Palestinian groups pending a review in interviews with DW.
“I think that’s the important thing to do after this cruel, terrorist attack, to really make sure that no money can be abused to support terrorist structures or antisemitism or anti-Israel sentiments,” Stegner said.
He said that even though Germany did have measures designed to prevent this, the weekend’s attack had made it clear “it’s very important to take a very close look on all of that.”
Stegner sits on the parliamentary foreign affairs committee in the Bundestag and is a senior SPD voice on foreign policy.
Meanwhile, Marcus Faber, from another member of the ruling coalition in Berlin, the FDP, said it was necessary to have “proof” that no aid was indirectly landing in the coffers of groups like Hamas.
“Germany has helped the Palestinian Authorities to support their own people. And we have now the question where does this money go,” he said. “Is this really used to support the people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip? Or is it also used to finance such terrorist acts as we have just seen? So we will have talks about that. Where’s our money actually going? We have to have proof. That it is not misused for such terrorist acts. And until this proof happens, I think, these assets will be frozen.”
The EU took a similar step on Monday.
Faber also said he supported Israel’s move to blockade Gaza, saying that it appeared to him that Israel was looking to break Hamas’ grip on power in the territory.
“So, I think to enable that operation, to get Hamas out of the Gaza Strip, this is the first move right now. And others will follow in the coming days and weeks,” Faber said.
Challenged on whether this punished the whole population of Gaza for Hamas’ actions, Faber said, “it’s very hard to hit Hamas without also hitting the civilian populations in the Gaza Strip” and that he thought casualties would be a “side-effect.”
But he also said the Israeli army usually tried very hard not to hit the civilian population, “and I think the Israeli military will act in this way again.”
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