Union complains about harassment at the gate
Families of Hamas hostages have to wait in front of the Bundestag
January 17, 2024, 4:46 a.m
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The photos of the Hamas hostages are omnipresent in Israel. But when visiting the Bundestag, visitors have to take off T-shirts and stickers with pictures of those abducted. The security service sees banned political messages in this, as the Union angrily reports.
The Union parliamentary group has sharply criticized the fact that a group of visitors made up of family members of kidnapped Hamas hostages was temporarily not allowed into the Bundestag because of T-shirts with photos of their relatives. “It was humiliating for the relatives of the Israeli hostages,” said the foreign policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Jürgen Hardt, to the “Bild” newspaper. The relatives had to “take off or turn around” the T-shirts with the portraits of their abducted relatives in order to be allowed into the Bundestag.
According to “Bild”, the visitors had an appointment with Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz. However, they were not allowed to pass through the security gate because it was suggested that they were wearing political messages on their clothing. According to the report, the T-shirts read “Bring them home” in Hebrew and English, a reference to the Hamas hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
Hardt told “Bild” that the whole situation was “certainly disturbing for the relatives and the surviving hostage who was also present.” “Even the pins that said ‘Bring Them Home’ had to be turned in.” The office of Bundestag President Bärbel Bas was “not in a position” to resolve the situation within 30 minutes or even to give instructions to the completely overwhelmed forces at the gate.
“Coordination required by the responsible department”
“Desperate cries for help for your own relatives in danger of death are not political messages, but fundamental rights,” Hardt continued. “And relatives of Israeli hostages in particular should not have to give up their dignity at the gate of the German Bundestag.”
A spokeswoman for the Bundestag told the “Bild” newspaper that “when the group arrived at the entrance, there were questions and a need for coordination within the responsible department with regard to the house’s access and rules of conduct.” “There was no assessment of the content by the employees at the entrance or the safety route.”
“No one was ‘turned away’,” emphasized the spokeswoman. “The entire group then came to the Bundestag. However, the delays caused irritation, which we very much regret.” According to “Bild”, the meeting with CDU leader Merz had to be shortened from 30 to five minutes.