In the dispute over unspent Funds against anti-Semitism and for the strengthening of Jewish communities SPD parliamentary group leader Raed Saleh has attacked the CDU-led cultural administration. “I would like to see a little more commitment from the cultural administration when it comes to approaching the matter seriously,” said Saleh on Monday.
“I don’t see any line there and it annoys me that a lot of money is being left lying around,” Saleh said, taking his coalition partner to task. “We expect more professionalism there,” he added, making it clear: “The issue is big, so the money should be on the streets.”
The reason for the attack is the millions of euros that have not been spent for a long time on combating anti-Semitism and strengthening the Jewish communities in Berlin. As reported, the CDU and SPD factions had allocated 20 million euros for this purpose in their budget this year alone.
It is unlikely that the funds will be spent by the end of the year
Although some money has been spent on anti-Semitism prevention, the majority of the funds are still being spent by the cultural administration. It is unlikely that they will be spent by the end of the year. October 7th marks the anniversary of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.
Together with Social Senator Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD), Saleh visited the Kreuzberg Initiative against Anti-Semitism (Kiga) on Monday. Their new project “Dialogue Rooms” is intended to bring Jewish-Israeli and Muslim-Palestinian people together at the same table from January 1st and enable them to have a safe exchange. “This is intended to limit the drifting apart of society,” explained Dervis Hizarci, head of the kindergarten.
Saleh and Kiziltepe’s visit to the kindergarten can be seen as a sign to the coalition partner. Youth Secretary Falko Liecke had declared months agoto want to regulate the “uncontrolled growth” in funding in the area of political education and specifically mentioned the kindergarten. They and other providers would not receive any further funding under his aegis, Liecke indicated. Saleh did not want to officially comment on these statements.
Recommended editorial content
Here you will find external content selected by our editors that enriches the article with additional information. You can display or hide the external content with one click.
I agree to the external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data can be transmitted to third-party platforms. You can find more information about this in the data protection settings. You can find these at the very bottom of our page in the footer, so that you can manage or revoke your settings at any time.
