Berlin
Sahra Wagenknecht calls for a peace demonstration – and criticizes Israel’s conduct of the war
Sahra Wagenknecht speaks at the demo under the motto “No to wars – stop the madness of armaments – shape the future peacefully and justly”
© Soeren Stache / DPA
At least 10,000 people demonstrated for peace with Sahra Wagenknecht in Berlin. From the podium, the politician did not hold back on criticizing the federal government – and Israel.
Despite the cold and drizzle, thousands of people demonstrated in Berlin for peace in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. The former left-wing politician also came to the opening rally at the Brandenburg Gate on Saturday afternoon Sahra Wagenknecht. She sharply criticized the traffic light coalition and accused the Israeli government of reckless warfare in the Gaza Strip.
The police spoke of 10,000 participants, the organizers put the number at 20,000. Set up as a demonstration against the war in Ukraine, some posters also made reference to the Gaza war. There were also many banners with peace doves and calls for peace negotiations.
Sahra Wagenknecht criticizes the SPD and the Greens
Wagenknecht, who is currently founding her own party, criticized, among other things, the statement by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) that Germany must become “war-ready”. “This is sheer madness,” said the politician. It is bad that this course is supported by an SPD chancellor. “What has happened to Willy Brandt’s party that it is pushing such a course today?” The Greens are even worse; one can no longer imagine that the party emerged from the peace movement.
In front of Wagenknecht and her comrades-in-arms
These were the most spectacular party departures in the history of the Federal Republic
Wagenknecht harshly criticized the course of the Israeli and German governments in the Gaza war. “We Germans in particular have a special responsibility for Jewish life,” said the 54-year-old. “And we have the responsibility to defend Israel’s right to exist without any ifs or buts.” But this responsibility “does not oblige us to whitewash and support the Netanyahu government’s reckless warfare as self-defense.”
This escalation of the war does not protect Jewish life, it endangers it. “It’s absurd to believe that bombs weaken Islamist terror. They strengthen it.” Wagenknecht recalled the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. “Haven’t we learned anything at all from all the wars of the past few years?”
Wagenknecht equates Hamas and Israel
She previously said: “On October 7th, we were all horrified and shocked by the terrible massacres of the Islamist Hamas, by the murders of innocent civilians, women and children.” Nothing, no injustice in this world, justifies such crimes. But she thinks “we should be just as shocked and horrified by the reckless bombings in the Gaza Strip.”
The call for a demonstration with the motto “No to wars – stop armament madness – shape the future peacefully and justly” was supported by left-wing politicians, trade unionists and some artists. At the same time, hundreds of activists from the climate protection group Last Generation blocked the Street of June 17th on Saturday.
Wagenknecht had already spoken about the Ukraine war in February with the women’s rights activist Alice Schwarzer at the Brandenburg Gate. At that time, the police said there were around 13,000 participants after the rally.