Volker Beck (Buendnis90/Die Gruenen; Alliance 90/The Greens, Green Party in Germany) belonged to the German Bundestag (German Federal Parliament) from 1994 to 2017, as a member of parliament for Alliance 90/The Greens. From 2014 until his resignation from the Bundestag, he was chairman of the German-Israeli parliamentary group. 

Human rights are the subject on which he regularly expresses himself, even after his parliamentary exit. The relationship between Germany and Israel is a matter close to his heart: What cannot be overlooked, even if news about this complex is only sporadically followed.

In the series Ten Questions, the Ruhrbarone wanted to have a few answers to current questions: With Volker Beck, we had a competent expert to answer our questions. About anti-Semitism, the neo-Nazi splinter party „Die Rechte“ („The Right“), a wrong Iran policy and the sad role of Heiko Maas (SPD) in the UNO.

Ruhrbarone: The Federal Minister of the Interior (Germany)  recently presented new figures on the subject of internal security. There has been a significant increase in anti-Semitic crimes. In 90% of the crimes there is a right-wing extremist background. How can the state react here?

Volker Beck: The answer to anti-Semitic crimes must be repression, education and a clear attitude. It is probably correct that the majority of the crimes can be located on the right. This can also be seen from the statistics on the perpetrators identified and the nationalities identified. However, the 89.1% published by the Federal Ministry of the Interior are certainly too high.

Any anti-Semitic propaganda by unknown perpetrators is classified as right-wing. This is no longer appropriate: Islamists and Palestinians also use swastikas for their anti-Israeli propaganda.