Israel blasts German envoy for spreading pro-Hamas, antisemitic propaganda

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday strongly condemned Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, for accepting at face value the allegation that Israel is responsible for allowing three babies to freeze to death in Gaza. 

"It is expected from an ambassador to rely on verified facts, not assumptions or imaginations," wrote Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, on X. "It has already been proven so many times that doctors in Gaza publish Hamas propaganda rather than facts. Regardless, Israel is eager to end the war as soon as Hamas lays down its weapons and all our hostages are returned home. Unfortunately, this is not happening due to Hamas’s decision to continue its Jihadist war it launched on Oct 7."

Marmorstein had responded to Seibert’s X post, in which the controversial German ambassador wrote: "If reports about 3 babies freezing to death in Gaza don‘t move us then we don’t understand the birth in a manger in Bethlehem or the light of Hanukkah. They should move us to demand an end of the war and Hamas terror, winter supplies for the Gazans and a full hostage release."

After widespread outrage on social media from Israel’s government and German Jews, Seibert partially backpedaled his X post – "About my last post: I don’t know for sure what happened (nor do I claim that), but I can imagine that a weak newborn could die from hypothermia there (9-10 degrees at night in a tent, the ground cold, wind outside). Gaza doctors have said as much and I don‘t think they all lie."

Israel’s Thursday reprimand of Seibert is the third time that Jerusalem has sharply criticized Seibert for alleged anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activities. Shortly after Hamas slaughtered over 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Germany’s embassy in Tel Aviv told i24NEWS via email that "Ambassador Seibert did not participate in any 'memorial event for Hamas terrorists' in the past and will, of course, not do so in the future."

Seibert participated in the "Alternative Day of Remembrance" that paid tribute to Palestinian terrorists, including Hamas terrorists, and victims of terrorism, in 2023, prompting the foreign ministry to rebuke the German diplomat.

i24NEWS reported in October, 2024 that Germany’s Green party-controlled foreign ministry faced intense criticism from Israel’s embassy in Berlin for bashing the IDF.

Germany’s Green party foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, is widely considered one of the most anti-Israel politicians to hold the post of Berlin’s top diplomat since Israel and German established diplomatic relations in 1965.

Baerbock imposed a weapons embargo on Israel.

Seibert has a long record of working with NGOs, including Ir Amim, that demonize the Jewish state, argue his critics. Seibert’s allegedly pro-Hamas X post electrified the social media platform, sparking intense criticism of his role in Israel at time when the Jewish state is involved in a seven-front war against Iranian regime-sponsored terrorist organizations and states.

Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora have called on Germany to recall Seibert because of his anti-Israel activities.

"How is it possible that the German Ambassador to Israel, of all people, with all that being the German representative in Israel entails, historically and emotionally, can tweet an unconfirmed rumor like some antisemitic internet troll? Germany should withdraw Steffen Seibert immediately, and if not, the Israeli government should throw him out of Israel," prominent Beverly Hills Rabbi Pini Dunner wrote on X.

Naftali Hirschl, who lives in Haifa, wrote on X: "Incredible anti-Semitic agitation from the German ambassador to Israel...The German ambassador must be dismissed."

The German-Jewish organization Values Initiative wrote on X to Seibert: "Has your internal pressure to reproduce possible Hamas propaganda and thus the anti-Semitic image of child-murdering Jews become so great that you share this without checking? This is disgraceful - towards the civilian population of Gaza... You are causing damage to your office, Germany and Israel! Assumptions, ideas and unverified reports promote hatred of Jews!"

Seibert, whose X post against Israel went viral, garnered support from the German foreign ministry-funded NGO, the German-Israel Friendship Association (DIG). The DIG has been engulfed in a number of anti-Israel scandals over the years, including a boycott of the Zionist Israeli NGO Im Tirtzu and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother, Iddo.

DIG’s president, Volker Beck, a former Green party politician, who has engaged in boycott (BDS) activities against Israel and Jews, wrote on X that "The sh..tstorm here at X against @GerAmbTLV based on the tweet discussed in the article is completely inappropriate. His tweet ultimately stemmed from genuine human concern. Seibert is a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people. This tweet doesn't change that."

Separately but related, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Rabbi Abraham Cooper blasted Volker Beck’s ally, German official Michael Blume, for defending the antisemitic and anti-Israel policies of the governments of Norway and Ireland. Blume is tasked with fighting antisemitism in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, but has been accused over the years of stoking Jew- hatred. Israel’s government recently criticized Blume, according to i24NEWS.

Cooper told i24NEWS about Blume’s attacks on the Jewish state: "Israel is fighting for its life against a ring of terror on seven fronts unleashed by the genocidal Iranian regime. In the short term, Israel may lose some support from Europe. If Israel wins in the long run, it will be good for the Jewish people and the European nations under attack by many of these forces. People who combat anti-Israel and antisemitic hatred defend the Jewish people in times of extreme crisis and do not criticize their leaders and actions."

Blume declined to respond to an i24NEWS press query. German Jews and many pro-Israel NGOs have urged that Blume resign or be fired.