EDIT: The header of the english statement has been updated in the statement on the website of the group. The term confiscation has distinct legal meanings that could be confused and the way the term is often used in common language is inaccurate for the legal meaning. See @[email protected] s comment showing the legal distinction.
In 2024, Jewish money is once again being confiscated by a German bank:Berliner Sparkasse freezes Jewish Voice accountOn 25 March 2024, our account with the Berliner Sparkasse was frozen with immediate effect. In a letter, the Sparkasse informed us that it had taken this step as a precautionary measure and that we should submit numerous internal documents by 5 April to update our customer data. As a public corporation, the bank is bound by public law and may therefore not arbitrarily freeze accounts without providing an explanation, which it did not. It is also highly unusual that the required documents include a list of our members with their full names and addresses.
Why should this information be important to the Berliner Sparkasse? It sounds more like a question that might be asked by an intelligence service or the police, who have been politically persecuting us as a Jewish organisation for some time. Our previous account with the Bank for Social Economy was closed in 2019 because of our support for BDS. This happened after agitation by Israeli journalist Benjamin Weinthal and pressure from the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
This pressure and political persecution are increasing as Israel and its apartheid policies in the state of Israel and the West Bank, and now its genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip, lose support around the world. Germany is one of Israel"s last loyal allies, and the German state is co-operating with Israel"s apartheid and genocide, even though over 80% of the population does not support the German government"s policy.
The Palestine Congress will take place in Berlin in mid-April and will feature a wide range of international speakers, including the former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. The closer the congress gets, the more intense the persecution becomes; for weeks, there has been shrill defamation from the tabloid media and local politicians, such as describing it as a “hate summit” for which “thousands of anti-Semites” will be coming to Berlin. Because the journalists can"t write anything factual about it, they try to delegitimise the congress through guilt by association.
However, because the organisers are independent of politics, the usual methods such as cancellation or denial of spaces do not work. The congress is financed by ticket sales and donations; we, the Jewish Voice, have made our account available for this purpose – which is why it has now been blocked. We will not be intimidated by this, even if we lose our account: Our position on genocide is derived from our Jewish values and is not dependent on financial resources. Our membership grows with every day and every act of repression. Anyone who is a member of our organisation knows it themselves. It is none of any bank"s business. We are taking legal action against the arbitrary, politically motivated freezing of our account, which is unacceptable in a democracy.
Jewish Voice for Peace, is coincidentally none of those things, all all
Have evidence the organization isn’t Jewish anymore (because it was definitely founded by Jews and its board members are Jewish)? They are also provably advocates of a permanent ceasefire and equal humanitarian rights for Palestinians (which are peaceful goals) so you’re at least partially wrong.
The text mentions them supporting the “don’t buy from Jews”-BDS movement
Sounds very weird for a Jewish organisation indeed
Only the bds movement is not about “don’t buy from Jews”, it is about “use peaceful means to pressure Israeli institutions to change course”.
yeah, lol, they’re not Jewish, they aren’t a voice for Jews, and their end goal is the destruction of the Jewish state by any means necessary, they support every terrorist organization to have ever threatened and attacked actual Jews in Israel, and they are as far from a peace organization as you can possibly get. their very name is Jew baiting. they are demons.
You comment is a perfect example of how jewish people dissenting with the unconditional support for Israel stance are targeted using antisemitic conspiracies, insults and and propaganda attacks.
The zionist movement is not just allying with antisemites both historically and today. It itself is using the fully playbook of antisemitic tropes to attack dissenting jews.
I would say that modern zionism cannot exist without anitsemitism. Zionism relies on the same inhumane cruelty and doublethink patterns that fascist ideologies rely on.
Way to dodge my request for evidence, and ignore the evidence I provided, in favor of repeating extremist misinformation. It’s pretty clear your claims are baseless but luckily basically no one else seems to believe them either.