Statement regarding the claim that the German police “threatened an Israeli with a crime for show of Israeli flag”

After having been approached by a number of our international friends and seeing a Jerusalem Post article making the rounds internationally and causing a major uproar against the Frankfurt police, we see the need to summarize the facts, as they really took place. In a nutshell, the situation looks like this:

1. The premise of the JPost article is incorrect. There were no anti-Semitic calls, as claimed. There was no “German Muslims who called a young Israeli musician a ‘Nazi’”. In fact, there were no anti-Semitic chants or any other insults by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, which were documented whatsoever (despite the fact that the musician was accompanied by a friend, who had filmed her holding up the flag).
2. The fact is that there was a pro-Palestinian demonstration, which took place in Frankfurt back in July. An Israeli musician saw this demonstration, went back to her apartment to fetch an Israeli flag, with which she stood in some distance from the demonstrators. There are 3 short videos, which document this.
3. While holding the flag, she showed her middle finger in the direction of the demonstrators, which cannot be seen in the aforementioned video clips, but which was documented in form of a photograph by a third party.
   (Mind you, pointing the finger may have been completely understandable from the situation and in response to the demonstrators, but insulting someone – unprovoked – in this form, is still something, which you can get reported to the police for in Germany.)
4. A third person reported the Israeli woman to the police and filed an official complaint for being insulted in the form of the showing of her middle finger. The police recorded the report, which they are obliged to do by law, and asked her to stop the insult. She was then asked to leave the vicinity, because she did not comply.
   It is unclear what exactly was said during the discussion between the police and the woman, especially since the woman only speaks Russian and Hebrew, as well as some broken English.
5. The friend who accompanied her and who filmed the video clips of her with the flag, did not document any of the interaction with the police. In other words, it is her testimony against the testimony of the police, which is further complicated by the language barrier.
6. When she did not comply with the police instructions to stop the insult and to vacate the area, where she had caused a provocation – not because of the flag, but because of the showing of her middle finger – the discussion with the police became more “intense”; a scene which the woman ended with the police threatening her with arrest. A complaint against the police or against the pro-Palestinian demonstrators was never filed.
7. A crucial difference to what was claimed is that the police never filed a complaint against the woman out of their own accord; not because of her Israeli flag, nor because of her finger. It was a 3rd party, which filed the complained against her and which the police is required by law to investigate.
8. Mayor and anti-Semitism Commissioner of the State of Hessen, Uwe Becker, and the Frankfurt Jewish community have published statements regarding the case. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau have also published articles summarizing the facts, all in line with what we summarized above. (Links to all the statements and to our own German summary of the events can be HERE.
9. As to our role: We were contacted by the Israeli musician one week before the story became public, which is when she received a summons from the police asking her to come and make a statement regarding the matter. We were in contact with her directly (though it was not really possibly to communicate, since she only spoke Russian and Hebrew), the friend of hers, who was present in July and who filmed part of the events, and another family friend of hers. We also have a copy of the police summons. It is based on this first hand information, that we researched the matter and came to the above conclusions, which were also the basis for our decision NOT to publish anything regarding the matter. It was only after the Achgut and JPost publications, that we also published something.
   (And lastly, one more personal note: We find it very unusual that the full name (first and last name) of the “victim”, the musician, was mentioned both in the JPost article, as well as a preceding article on Achgut.)

In conclusion we can only repeat what the Jewish community reiterated in their statement on the matter: “…The police [here in Germany] in general, but also here in Frankfurt, are currently the subject of legitimate criticism due to incidents by anti-Semitic and racist officials. It is imperative that these incidents are dealt with using all legal means and that everything is done to ensure that in the future contemptuous positions are excluded. But it would be unfair to generalize and to do injustice to the police officers who work daily for our protection and our safety in Frankfurt. We have been able to look back on a good and trusting cooperation with the Frankfurt Police for years and look forward to continuing this…”