She is the first member of a state government to lose her job because of a post critical of Israel on social media: Marjam Samadzade. About a week ago, the State Secretary for Integration in Schleswig-Holstein commented on an Instagram post and distributed it on her personal account in which the Israeli government was heavily criticized for its attacks following the Hamas terrorist attacks.
Her boss, Schleswig-Holstein’s Social Minister Aminata Touré (Greens) said that this post did not correspond to her personal stance or that of the black-green state government in Schleswig-Holstein. According to Touré, according to the ministry, she asked her colleague Samadzade in a personal conversation to immediately suspend her official duties and asked for her dismissal as State Secretary. Touré said: “Israel’s right to exist must not be questioned at any time.”
It was already planned before the scandal that she should resign from her position
What exactly did Marjam Samadzade share on Instagram with the note “Thank you for these clear words”? The detailed one Instagram post from October 17th by the author Alice Hasters. In it she writes, among other things, that she condemns Hamas’ attack on Israel: “It is an unspeakable, unbearable suffering. It was a massacre. (…) There is no relativization here.” The next screenshot then says: “I condemn the government of Israel and the unreserved solidarity of international governments with their actions.” The Israeli government is “right-wing and it is breaking international law.” She is “disappointed and shocked at how this conflict is being handled in Germany. It seems as if Germany is only willing to combat anti-Semitism by spreading anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian racism.”
On her Instagram account on Wednesday, Samadzade continued to describe herself as “State Secretary in the Ministry of Social Affairs in Schleswig-Holstein”. It was already planned before the scandal that she should resign from her position. The 50-year-old lawyer had already announced this summer after just one year in office that she would be leaving at the end of 2023 and returning to the Hamburg judicial authority from 2024. Reports of the Kiel News According to reports, there was a dispute between Aminata Touré and Samadzade in the summer over the financing of an anti-discrimination agency.
The opposition in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament is now sharply criticizing the actions of Samadzade’s boss Aminata Touré. Last week they only announced that Samadzade would be leaving early – and only revealed the background when NDR asked. “Ms. Touré must now finally end the days of chaos in her ministry,” said FDP parliamentary group leader Christopher Vogt to NDR and announced that the Samadzade case would be made an issue in the state parliament’s Legal and Interior Committee. It is “an unbelievable occurrence” that a member of the state government would spread such a post, said Vogt.
Samadzade’s successor has already been chosen: the trained police officer and Touré’s previous office manager, Silke Schiller-Tobies, will move to the top of the ministry.