Cologne – "The vat of hatred that is being poured out against Israel is unspeakable," said the Vice-President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dr. Dieter Graumann, at a large pro-Israeli demonstration titled "Fair play for Israel – for truth and solidarity" that took place in Cologne on 13 June 2010. According to a report in the newspaper Die Welt, about 1,000 people gathered in Cologne on Sunday to express their support for the Israeli government's Middle East policy. The demonstration was organised by the German-Israeli Society (Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft, DIG) and the Jewish Community of Cologne in response to international criticism of the Israeli raid on a flotilla of Gaza-bound aid ships at the end of May in which at least nine activists died and numerous people were injured. The President of the DIG, Dr. h. c. Johannes Gerster, too, spoke of the public's lack of "objectivity and fairness towards Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, that 62 years after its establishment is still being attacked and facing acute danger". (14.06.2010)

The Central Council of Jews in Germany has called for calm in the debate over the Israeli raid on an international aid flotilla. "We should keep a cool head instead of spouting hot air," said the Central Council's Vice-President, Dieter Graumann, in an interview with the news agency ddp. He said that while it was entirely legitimate to ask whether Israel's actions were proportionate, he thought "the cascade of hatred" pouring down on Israel was exaggerated. This criticism was especially aimed at the Left Party.

Graumann expressed his regret over the incident that happened off the coast of the Gaza Strip and in which, according to the Israeli military, at least nine people lost their lives. "No doubt, when there are victims it is always a reason for grief and sorrow," he said. Graumann welcomed the proposal of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel (CDU), to allow international observers to participate in the investigation into the incident. (01.06.2010)

The Secretary General of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan J. Kramer, has described Germany's efforts to come to terms with its Nazi past as "half-hearted and hypocritical". He told the newspaper Rheinland am Sonntag that the case of the mass murderer Martin Sandberger, who had lived undisturbed in a German nursing home, was a further demonstration of "how little interest Germany had had in prosecuting Nazi criminals during all those years". Kramer said that neither politicians nor judicial authorities had made real efforts to bring the perpetrators before the court, of which Sandberger's case was an example.

The Secretary General said the claim that the Federal Republic of Germany had done exemplary work in dealing with its Nazi past was utterly ludicrous. "This applies to the prosecution of the perpetrators as well as to the compensation for the victims," emphasised Kramer. He said it was absurd that the aged survivors of the Holocaust had to resort to legal action to receive compensation "while their murderers enjoy a financially secure retirement in Germany". He also said that prosecuting former Stasi members while turning a blind eye to Nazi crimes considerably undermined the state's credibility in the matter.

Kramer called on the government to take greater efforts to combat far-right extremism. In his view, it is irresponsible to want to crack down on Islamism and left-wing extremism while ignoring the threat posed by the far-right. He said there was no reason for giving the all-clear in the struggle against neo-Nazis. (10.04.2010)