Dieter Hallervorden publishes a poem about the war in Gaza. He talks about apartheid and genocide. Now there is a hail of criticism.
Berlin - The music is sad, the words are accusatory and after the publication on social media, the accuser himself is now being criticized: actor Dieter Hallervorden caused a lot of fuss with a poem against the Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. In the three-minute video that the 88-year-old posted on Facebook on Tuesday (April 16), Hallervorden associates the state of Israel with apartheid and genocide. Critical voices are now accusing him of anti-Semitism.
Controversial statements by Dieter Hallervorden during video with poem about Israeli politics
In fact, Hallervorden makes various controversial statements in the clip, which can also be seen on Instagram and via the YouTube channel of the former Left-wing Bundestag member Diether Dehm. So he puts it into perspective in his introduction: “Of course I also condemn the terror of Hamas, but at the same time, despite everything, I imagine a new chance for peace for a two-state solution.” Directly before the poem “Gaza, Gaza” he then says, “ “Atrocities have a history” – no one is “born a terrorist”. The actor demands that “the guns remain silent” and that all hostages be released.
In a calm tone, accompanied by music, Hallervorden sharply criticizes Israel's policies. “A man presses tattered little fingers to his beard as he whispers. What did these delicate little things do to the generals?” he asks, while in the background you can see a desperate man carrying a bundle in his arms. Collapsing houses, explosions, fleeing people and rows of body bags – Hallervorden relies heavily on emotional images. Among other things, excerpts from the Qatari news channel
Al-Jazeera
and Hamas propaganda videos can be seen in the background.
Hallervorden criticizes German support for “apartheid” and speaks of genocide
The actor also attacks German support for the state of Israel. “They pledge allegiance to apartheid – from traffic lights to AfD,” he says. The term apartheid originally referred to racial separation in South Africa in the 20th century. The security and existence of Israel is considered a “reason of state” in Germany due to the Holocaust, the murder of several million Jews in the Third Reich. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently assured this again a week after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
As the poem continues, Hallervorden criticizes arms deliveries to Israel and asks at the end: “And that shouldn’t be genocide?” Israel has already rejected allegations of genocide several times. The country invokes its right to self-defense after the Hamas massacres on October 7, 2023. In January, Israel had to answer to the International Court of Justice in The Hague following a lawsuit by South Africa. In a first ruling, the court ordered Israel to take more protective measures for the population in Gaza.
At that time, the federal government firmly sided with Israel and “resolutely and expressly rejected” the South African accusation of genocide, as a government spokesman said. Last week, Germany had to defend itself before the court. Nicaragua accuses the Federal Republic of enabling genocide in Gaza by supplying weapons.
Criticism of Hallervorden poem: “Example of school anti-Semitism”
Hallervorden has now been heavily criticized for his video. “If you are looking for an example of guilt-defense anti-Semitism in the context of perpetrator-victim reversal in the Middle East conflict, Hallervorden's work is a picture-perfect example,”
Bild
quotes the President of the German-Israeli Society (DIG), Volker Beck (63). Hallervorden was visibly moved by himself, exuded embarrassing pathos and “did not leave out any anti-Israel cliché,” said Beck. In its report, the newspaper speaks of a “crazy anti-Israel poem.”
Hallervorden did not write this alone, but together with the former Bundestag member of the Left, Dieter Dehm. The 74-year-old is very controversial. When Christian Wulff and Joachim Gauck ran for the office of Federal President in 2010, Dehm thought it was a choice “between Stalin and Hitler.”
Dehm finds a much more positive word for the Hallervorden poem. “Probably the most famous actor and theater person in Germany, @DHallervorden, has unexpectedly clearly, albeit in subtle lyrics, sided with the people bombed in the #Gaza Strip. The video shows harsh images with a sensitive song, not only for the Palestinian people, but also for a peaceful future for Israel,” writes Dehm. He thanked Hallervorden a few weeks ago after he shared a post on Instagram in which he took a position against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called on the German government to work to end the war.
Outrage over Hallervorden's poem against Israeli actions in Gaza
Meanwhile, Dehm and Hallervorden are being harshly criticized elsewhere. “The terribly cheesy German Dieters: #Hallervorden and Dehm write a poem with a film about #Gaza. With 'apartheid', 'genocide', Rheinmetall as a warmonger. “The BUT should not be missing after the mandatory exercise of mentioning the Hamas terror,” says historian Anna Veronika Wendland indignantly at X.
Hallervorden's video has now been viewed almost 30,000 times on Instagram. Opinions are divided there and on Facebook. Some thank Hallervorden for his poem. “I grew up with you and am deeply touched by this statement of your humanity. For 6 months I have felt alone and have an anger and sadness within me that I can hardly describe,” writes one. Others note that they would have liked a similar video on October 7, 2023. On that day, the terrorist organization Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, attacked Israel. More than 1,200 people were massacred and around 240 people were taken hostage. Israel then began a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, the number of deaths in Gaza recently rose to around 33,800.
(flon)