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Berlin: Pollution of minds vs. air pollution

It is simply a question of priorities!
“What do you want?” asked an invisible force, let us call this force “universe” the city of Berlin:
“You have two choices. A parade of vintage cars crossing the so-called Ku’damm, the most famous avenue in Berlin.
The other choice is the Quds Day rally, where people chanted ‘Child murderer Israel’ in the past, crossing the Ku’damm.”
Same place, same time.

Now, it is your go.
Make an educated guess.
For your convenience some additional facts:
To be honest: the organisers of the vintage car parade acted unequable and applied for their event months ago and very well in advance.
Both, the German government and the municipality of Berlin declared their concerns about anti-Semitism and condemned it. Anti-Semitism has no place within German society.
On the other hand, cars, especially vintage cars will, of course, cause temporarily pollution of the air.
Pollution of minds versus air pollution.

If you are familiar with German politics, you already made the right guess: The Berlin city administration chose the “Quds Day rally” – no chance for the vintage cars. Instead, people will show hatred against Jews and the state of Israel.
Sounds rather weird, but it’s true: The organisers of the car parade have commercial interests, which is why they decided to fill out all applications in advance. However, there was no reply of the municipality until they learned, as German newspapers reported, that the organisers of the “Quds Day rally” want to use the Ku’damm as well. They won. There is no alternative route, for the car parade, nor the “Quds Day rally”. The message is obvious: Yes, we condemn the hatred against Jews and the state of Israel with words, but we open the heart of our city for your hatred.

A ban of the “Quds Day rally” is off-limits, as long as the organisers do not belong to a banned organisation, the German right of assembly is, for good reasons, rather liberal.
Nevertheless, concrete acts are needed. The whole Jewish community is watching, but the municipal and the federal government turn their back.

Berlin, it is simply a question of priorities… – this time you failed the trial of the “universe”…

About the Author
Chajm is a writer, blogger, and resident of the German Ruhr district; publisher of the German Jewish website talmud.de. Some of his articles are published in a German-Jewish weekly.