A German army soldier was apparently threatened in Berlin because of two pro-Israel patches on his backpack. The man posted this on X. In Berlin, it has become life-threatening for Israel supporters, he says – even for a soldier like him with a “weightlifter’s stature.”
The Bavarian Bundeswehr soldier Bastian Gassl was apparently threatened on the street in Berlin because he was wearing two pro-Israel patches on his backpack. On the platform X (formerly Twitter) he addressed the Federal Minister of the Interior, Berlin’s mayor, the Senator for the Interior and the Berlin police directly:
“Dear Nancy Faeser, dear Kai Wegener, dear Senator for the Interior, dear Berlin Police, dear Berliners,
I’m walking with my backpack to my supplement store on Amrumer Strasse in Wedding and with music in my ears I walk past a kebab shop right next to the subway entrance where several adults are sitting outside and several children are playing with a ball. Behind me I notice several adults shouting at each other and shouting something. The children look at me in shock as I walk past them. When I briefly stop the music while I’m walking, an adult calls after me: ‘If you come back, you bastard, the same thing will happen to you as happened to your Jewish friends.’ Another shouts ‘Free-Free-Palestine’ and when he starts doing that, several more in unison.
I hate to say it. I’m going to take the patches off. Not because I no longer fully support Israel and won’t continue to do so, but because it has become absolutely life-threatening even for Bundeswehr soldiers with my weightlifter stature in Berlin. I’m sorry to have to say this, but you have completely lost large parts of this city. Anti-Semitic shouting and death threats for Israel supporters have become the norm and I don’t have the impression that there is any way to put a stop to this lack of inhibition.
The patches are just patches and basically mean nothing. But removing them for this reason is like losing a battle. We have lost the battle and with it this city. This capitulation to anti-Semites is unbearable and I am ashamed of it.”