Israel delegation condemns Germany decision to host Iran politicians - Haaretz

(Haaretz) - A delegation of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee visiting in Germany sent an angry letter to German officials protesting the host country’s decision to invite an official delegation from the Iranian Majlis Parliament to meet with Germany’s Bundestag Parliament.

“We, the chairman and other members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in Berlin on an official visit, seriously protest the visit of Iranian Majlis members in Berlin,” the members of the delegation, headed by MK Shaul Mofaz wrote in their letter upon discovering the Iranian parliament members were in Berlin as well.

The letter, addressed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, the chairman of the Bundestag and its foreign committee, continued, saying that the delegation members were “deeply disappointed by their [Iranian parliament members’] reception by officials in Germany, including the German parliament.”

The committee members called the Majlis a “parliamentary façade for a murderous regime that oppresses its people, torturing and murdering young students who dare protest.” The letter accused the Iranian government of “supporting and exporting terror, assisting [Syrian President Bashar] Assad in stifling the protests against him and denying the Holocaust, all while producing nuclear weapons and missiles to commit genocide against the Jewish people.”

The delegation expressed deep disappointment in Germany’s decision to invite the Iranian parliamentarians, saying “it cannot stand that while Germany calls for harsh sanctions against the Iranian regime, official representatives of Germany and its citizens undermine this policy."

The letter cautioned that “by meeting with Iranian Majlis members they are sending a dangerous message that the sanctions against Iran are being leveled without sincerity.”

The committee members stressed that they “could not stand by as German representatives conduct a dialogue with a regime that calls for the extermination of a nation.”

They continued, expressing concern about the “dangerous ties between German representatives and their Iranian counterparts.” The delegation said it was hopeful that the ties would desist, concluding that they “cannot remain silent while representatives of a murderous regime are being received in the heart of democratic Europe.”