JERUSALEM (JTA) — Former Israeli minister Rafi Eitan filmed a message of support for right-populist political party Alternative for Germany.
The video message was broadcast on Thursday an event marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, the Jerusalem Post reported. Eitan had been scheduled to be there to deliver his remarks in person, but sent the video due to illness.
Eitan, 91, led the Mossad operation to capture Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.
The right-wing Alternative for Germany party entered the Bundestag last September with 94 seats, after coming in third place with 12.6 percent of the vote in the German federal elections. The party’s popularity is based largely on its anti-refugee policy.
“We’re three generations after the Holocaust, and the opinions and the entire world are changing right before our eyes,” he told Ynet. “The media, the internet, this entire system is causing a fundamental social change all over the world. This is why we need to treat people, communities, countries and parties in a global manner. There’s no escaping that.”
He told Ynet that he believes the AfD would “help Israel with anything we’ll ask of them.”
Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, in a tweet on Saturday called Eitan’s remarks “sad and shameful.”
“I fully object to Rafi Eitan’s statement made earlier. I find it hard to imagine how the man who caught Eichmann bringing him to trial in Israel, would praise Germans that are proud of the Nazi past and hope that such views could be an alternative for Europe! Sad and shameful,” the tweet said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
