How seriously do the Greens take the fight against Jew-hatred?
From January 2023, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (aged 45) is to head the Berlin “House of World Cultures” (HKW). But in the past, the designated director has attracted attention for his hostility towards Israel.
The renowned “House of World Cultures” (HKW) – an exhibition venue for international art in the middle of Berlin’s government district – is directly financed by the Foreign Ministry and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Claudia Roth (aged 67, Greens). Roth is also chairwoman of the supervisory board of the HKW.
Why do Claudia Roth (see tweet above) and the Foreign Ministry led by Annalena Baerbock (aged 41, Greens) support an Israel-hater?
► In an open letter from the Ndikung-directed “Sonsbeek” Art Festival 2021, Israel is accused of “apartheid” and called for the “liberation of Palestine”, among other things.
Apartheid referred to the racist discrimination against black people in South Africa. The comparison with South Africa is repeatedly used to unilaterally demonise Israel. In fact, in democratic Israel, Arabs are seated both in parliament and in the Supreme Court – this would have been unthinkable in South Africa.
As early as 2014, Ndikung fantasised about the “liberation of Palestine”, writing: “They will pay a million fold for every drop of blood in GAZA! Palestine shall be free …” (They [Israel] will pay a million fold for every drop of blood in GAZA! Palestine shall be free …”)
Gaza is ruled by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas. Israel returns regular rocket fire from Gaza with counter-attacks on Hamas positions. The desire for Israel to “pay by the millions” for every drop of blood in Gaza would lead to the deaths of millions of Israelis.
▶︎ The accompanying text to a 2018 exhibition curated by Ndikung at Berlin’s “Savvy” gallery says (translated) about one artwork: “[It] stands as a symbol of an ongoing violence whose local and historical urgency stretches from World War II to today’s Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
According to Elio Adler, chairman of the German-Jewish “Values Initiative”, the text suggests that Jews are now inflicting the violence they experienced under the Nazis on the Palestinians – a popular relativisation of National Socialism among Israelophobes and anti-Semites.
Adler explains: “Ndikung’s positions on Israel are shaped by an anti-Semitic worldview. He speaks of apartheid, a colonialist settler state and draws continuities between Israeli actions and National Socialism. In doing so, he is serving up the basics of Israel-related anti-Semitism.”
▶︎ In addition, Ndikung is one of the supporters of the “Initiative GG 5.3 Weltoffenheit”, which had opposed the German parliament’s resolution against the BDS campaign.
BDS stands for “boycott, divestment, sanctions” and is an international hate campaign that more or less openly calls for the abolition of Israel and glorifies terror against Israelis. A resolution passed by the German Parliament in 2019 stipulates that it should not be funded with tax money.
Ex-Green politician Volker Beck, executive director of the Tikvah Institute and president of the German-Israeli Society, is alarmed. He warns in the newspaper BILD: “Since the Documenta at the latest, we know that if it says BDS, it usually says anti-Semitism. Those who are already issuing no-objection certificates “could fall flat on their faces just as they did with Documenta”.
Israel’s ambassador Ron Prosor (64) and the anti-Semitism commissioner of the German government Felix Klein (54) also criticised Ndikung’s positions.
But Minister of State Roth defends Ndikung. She thinks he is the suitable director. “He should then be judged above all on his artistic performance,” she told the Funke Media Group. She assumes that Ndikung will stand up against anti-Semitism.
Ndikung himself rejected criticism and explained that he had not supported the BDS movement and does not support it now.
Frank Müller-Rosentritt (40, Free Democratic Party), member of the Bundestag, criticises in BILD: “I wish that those responsible at the Greens would learn from the unspeakable experience of Documenta. Even before Documenta began, Minister of State Roth was warned in vain that its curators were uncritical and in part openly supportive of BDS and anti-Israeli statements. She should certainly not ignore such warnings again now.”
▶︎ As a reminder: Roth was sharply criticised for her dealings with the anti-Semitic Documenta curators by, among others, the Central Council of Jews and numerous politicians and experts. In the German Parliament, she did NOT want to classify the BDS movement as anti-Semitic in 2019.
BILD asked Foreign Minister Baerbock what she thought of the criticism of Ndikung and how it should be prevented that Ndikung attracts attention with hostility towards Israel in the name of German cultural diplomacy. After all, the HKW, which Ndikung is supposed to run, is also funded by the Foreign Office. As a so-called intermediary organisation, it is part of German cultural diplomacy.
However, Baerbock remains silent on the accusations, and a spokesperson merely refers to Claudia Roth’s statement and says that the decision on Ndikung’s post as director had already been made in the last legislative period.
Müller-Rosentritt is outraged. He told BILD: “It is the task of the Foreign Minister, as the person responsible for intermediary organisations in the Foreign Office, to put a stop to these goings-on instead of standing behind Ms Roth. We must finally ensure that no anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel is promoted with federal funds in the cultural sector.”
Elio Adler agrees with this criticism: “Politicians are walking with their eyes wide open into the next anti-Semitism scandal in the German art and culture sector.”
Ndikung should never be allowed to run the tax-funded HKW. It can still be prevented – “but only if the decisive authorities act quickly,” says Adler.