Israel bars German minister from Gaza

'Sometimes the Israeli government does not make it easy for its friends to explain why it behaves the way it does,' says aid minister Dirk Niebel.

German Development Aid Minister Dirk Niebel was denied entry into the Gaza Strip during his current visit to Israel, German officials said Saturday evening.

Niebel, who arrived in Israel earlier Saturday, had hoped to visit a sewage treatment plant being financed with German development aid.

Speaking on the second German TV network ZDF program"heute" (today) Saturday evening, Niebel expressed his anger about being denied entry.

"I would have wished for a clear political signal would be sent for an opening and for transparency," said Niebel, of Germany's liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).

www.haaretz.com...

Why would they do this? Do they have something to hide? It simply does not make sense. Sorry.

Yeah, I'd imagine it would be pretty hard for me to explain a "friend" who behaved this way.

Sorry if this is a double-thread.

So Germany is helping building the treatment plant and German officials are not allowed to go there? It is becoming more and more apparent that Israel really does not want the outside world to witness its treatment of the citizens of Gaza.

You know...there are times when you just get this urge to scratch the top of your head and wonder what are they thinking.

This is one of those times.

They didn't want the germans to be reminded of their painful past as nazis. Israel makes no sense, claim to be the chosen n then slime up the place. israel

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
Yeah, I'd imagine it would be pretty hard for me to explain a "friend" who behaved this way.

This is especially true. The quote "'Sometimes the Israeli government does not make it easy for its friends to explain why it behaves the way it does," really hits home.

Whats even more unfortunate is that even Germany will have to continue to be friends with Israel, even though they just got punked by them.

As the saying goes "who needs enemies when you got friends like these"

It would be very simple to get the Israelis to behave ... cut them off

How can one country deny someone entry to another country? That'd be like someone from the UK wanting to enter Mexico and having Brazil tell them it's not happening lol

I say keep it up, soon Israel will paint itself into a corner, surrounded by all the nations they've fracked with for decades and no one to save them when they reach that last straw.

reply to post by ZombieOctopus


This is a good point, one I never thought of. Gaza is not Israel, and Israel has no right to bar someone from entering. I can understand their worry about who gets into Gaza, but this is a government official.

reply to post by ZombieOctopus


Good point. More truth shines through right there, doesn't it?