Update: Sigmar Gabriel cancels his Iran-trip after protests

May 1, 2016, Berlin

Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel cancels his trip to Iran after protests. The trip was scheduled for May 2-3. The reason is a "short term illness" announces his Ministry. However, the German-Iranian Conference will take place headed by the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Uwe Beckmeyer.

Open letter to the German Minister for Economic Affairs:

Why are you supporting the world champion of executions and hatred of Israel, Mr. Gabriel?

Berlin, Hannover, Oldenburg, Bremen, April 29, 2016

Dear Mr. Gabriel,

you are travelling to Teheran for politico-economic talks in the beginning of May for the second time this year. We ask you to cancel this trip: doing business with an antisemitic dictatorship that threatens Israel with annihilation and the world champion of executions, means participating in their crimes.

You were the first European top-ranking politician to travel to Iran after the atom-deal last July. You justified your visit to the antisemitic Mullah-regime as follows: “For Germany we have to make clear: whoever wants to build a sustainable relationship with us, cannot question Israel’s right to exist.” [1] The Iranian Foreign Ministry gave a clear answer: that it will not change its attitude towards Israel. Your statement therefore became a phrase without consequences.

During a meeting in the Iranian Oil Ministry you called Iran a „friend“. However, President Hassan Rohani is not a “moderate beacon of hope” but the friendly face of terror. During his presidency there were considerably more people executed than under his predecessor Ahmadinejad. Women are being brutally repressed and homosexuality is being punished with death penalty. Labour unions, human rights groups, members of religious minorities and persecuted ethnic groups are still being threatened, political prisoners remain in confinement, house arrest for reformist politicians remains in place, torture is a daily routine. In Iran’s war for the Syrian dictator Assad hundreds of thousands have already died, and millions are displaced. 

Antisemitism is pivotal in Iranian policy. The Holocaust Cartoon Competition is taking place a few weeks after your visit, an event where caricatures that are antisemitic and deny the Holocaust are being awarded. [2]

The Lower-Saxonian prime minister Stefan Weil had to realise, how central the demand to annihilate Israel is in Iranian politics: the alleged “moderate” former president Rafsanjani ended a meeting early and abruptly, while Weil was explaining that the existence of Israel must be accepted as a fact. [3]

The regime does not only threaten the Jewish state with words, but militarily as well: the Iranian Defence Ministry has tested intermediate-range missiles with the Persian and Hebrew inscription “Israel must be annihilated” on the 9th of March 2016. The Iranian Regime finances antisemitic terror organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas and arms itself massively.

Mr. Gabriel, take action to support what you say and cancel your trip to Iran! Short sighted economical interest of some German companies must not help the regime to continue its support of terror organisations like Hezbollah, its war against the Syrian people and the rearmament against Israel.

Yours sincerely,

• STOP THE BOMB
• Dr. Kazem Moussavi, Green Party of Iran
• JUSOS Niedersachsen
• JUSOS Berlin
• JUSOS Kreis Stade
• JUSO-Hochschulgruppe Freiburg
• Sozialistische Jugend Deutschlands - Die Falken Niedersachsen
• Landesverband der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinden von Niedersachsen K.d.ö.R.
• Liberale Jüdische Gemeinde Hannover K.d.ö.R
• Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Aachen
• Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Berlin und Potsdam
• Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Bremen
• Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Oldenburg
• Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Leipzig
• Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Hannover
• Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Stuttgart und Mittlerer Neckar
• Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft Trier
• Junges Forum der Deutsch-Israelischen Gesellschaft Freiburg
• Junges Forum der Deutsch-Israelischen Gesellschaft e.V.
• Honestly Concerned e.V.
• Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Aufklärung und Menschenrechte e. V. 
• Referat gegen Antisemitismus des AStA der Universität Freiburg
• Christliche Israelfreunde Norddeutschland, HH e.V
• Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin

[1] Handelsblatt: „Sigmar Gabriel in Iran: Erster!“ vom 21.07.2015, http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/sigmar-gabriel-in-iran-abfuhr-aus-dem-iran/12083100-2.html

[2] Vgl. Twitter: twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/446928689943420928; und Video: http://english.khamenei.ir/news/3256/Are-the-Dark-Ages-over. Der Clip bietet auch Bilder von führenden europäischen Holocaust-Leugnern, die als verfolgte Märtyrer der Meinungsfreiheit präsentiert werden. Zum Wettbewerb siehe: iraniansforum.com/eu/

[3] NWZ Online: „Herzlicher Empfang mit abruptem Ende“ vom 18.04.2016, http://www.nwzonline.de/politik/niedersachsen/herzlicher-empfang-mit-abruptem-ende_a_6,1,2390575300.html