Several German cities have offered to take in and provide medical treatment for seriously ill or traumatized children from the embattled and devastated .
However, the cities — Hannover, Dusseldorf, Bonn, Leipzig and Kiel — need the support of the federal government to do so. Federal authorities would have to take over entry procedures, the selection of the children and all coordination of the relief effort.
In a letter to Interior Minister and Foreign Minister of the conservative bloc of the (CSU) and (CDU) respectively, the mayors of the cities have asked for help.
But the federal government is hesitant. The Foreign Office and the Interior Ministry, the two departments responsible, want to review the situation first.
‘Focus should be on providing aid on the ground’: Dobrindt
A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry said August 6 that support would depend “crucially on the security situation,” as well as “the possibility of departure and other factors.” This is the reason, he added, why the main focus will remain on “expanding medical assistance locally and in the surrounding region.”
According to the spokesperson, the German government does welcome the offer, in principle. It is “a matter of great importance” to the German government to support members of civil society in providing medical treatment to minors from the Gaza Strip, he said.
Interior Minister Dobrindt was somewhat more explicit on Thursday. “We must be very careful about what measures we are discussing at this point,” he told the platform Table Media, adding that the federal government is already helping people in Gaza.
“The focus should be on providing aid on the ground,” Dobrindt said. Although he understands the idea, he said the goal is to help as many people as possible, not just a few.
Questionable altruism?
The cities’ offer has been met with outrage by Serap Güler, a conservative lawmaker at the Foreign Ministry. She said the cities were not being entirely altruistic, at least not in the case of the two cities of Dusseldorf and Bonn, which are due to hold municipal elections in September.
“This idea is nice for an election campaign or for scoring points, but it doesn’t help the people themselves,” Güler told the local Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper.
Ines Schwerdtner, leader of the opposition socialist , called Güler’s statement “disgraceful.” She said it was unacceptable “that Germany, as one of the few countries in the EU, is sitting idly by and watching people die.” Even a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry later rejected Güler’s statement.
Fear of a new wave of migration
But there is something else behind the reluctance. The CDU/CSU bloc fears a new wave of irregular immigration, even if it initially involves only a few dozen children. Curbing immigration was one of their most important election promises, and it’s also an issue on which the far-right (AfD) party is constantly pushing the government with new demands.
This suspicion has also been confirmed by Alexander Hoffmann, leader of the CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag. “In terms of taking in vulnerable groups, it is first and foremost the responsibility of the neighboring Arab states,” he said in an interview with the tabloid Bild. And then came the decisive sentence: “A new wave of immigration to Germany cannot be the answer.”
Conservative politicians appear to be concerned that medical treatment for the children will only be the first step, and their relatives could also come to Germany through family reunification programs. Returning individuals to Gaza is complicated by the fact that Palestinians are considered stateless in Germany, which has not recognized Palestine as a country.
On the other hand, the CDU and CSU’s center-left coalition partner, the (SPD), is more open to accepting children from Gaza. Dirk Wiese, parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said treating the children would be a “sign of humanity.” A safe trip out of the country, he said, would be a prerequisite.
“If there are possibilities, if agreements can be reached to provide medical treatment in Germany, then I believe we should do so.”
Belit Onay, a member of the and mayor of Hannover, one of the cities that wants to take in children, has also rejected the criticism from the Foreign Ministry. The initiative has the support of a broad network of participants across party lines, Onay told the Evangelical Press Service. In addition, he pointed out, Germany has taken in injured people from and abused from Iraq in the past. “This is a tried and tested procedure. You just have to want to do it.”
Other European countries have already taken action
The German government’s hesitation stands in stark contrast to other European countries. Italy and Spain, for example, have already taken in seriously injured children from Gaza for treatment.
The British government has also announced an evacuation operation, but the plan only involves accepting a little over a hundred children. Aid organizations are urging the government in London to act quickly, saying that children have been dying in Gaza because of protracted bureaucracy.
Hannover Mayor Onay has suggested cooperating with the United Kingdom. For his part, Chancellor has not yet commented on the offer made by German cities.
This article was originally written in German.
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