Anti-Semitism row damaging Germany, says Schroder

Government MPs and German Jews protested at the headquarters of the neo-liberal Free Democrats in Berlin yesterday in a dispute over remarks by the party's deputy leader seen as anti-Semitic.

The Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, said the long dispute over the remarks was "damaging Germany's image abroad", and the head of the country's biggest Jewish community accused the Free Democrats of behaving like Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.

The controversy started in April when Jürgen Möllemann, the Free Democrat (FDP) deputy leader, sharply criticised Israel and accused Michel Friedman, the deputy leader of Germany's Central Council of Jews, of provoking anti-Semitism through his "intolerant and hateful manner". The outburst followed Mr Möllemann's decision to support a new Free Democrat member, named Jamal Karsli, a Syrian-born German who had accused the Israeli army of using "Nazi methods" and complained about the influence of the "Zionist lobby" in the media.

Mr Karsli has been forced to resign from the party, but continues to work as an independent MP within the FDP's parliamentary party in the state of North-Rhine Westfalia.

In an effort to defuse the crisis, the FDP's leader, Guido Westerwelle, issued an ultimatum to Mr Möllemann yesterday, demanding that Mr Karsli be removed from the parliamentary party faction in North-Rhine Westfalia by Monday. "My patience has come to an end," he said. The FDP leadership was expected to consider ousting Mr Möllemann from the party if he failed to act.

Germany's Jews have demanded an apology from Mr Möllemann, but he has refused. His remarks have been interpreted as an attempt by the FDP to win the support of far-right voters in the campaign for the general election in September. The FDP has declared it will join a coalition with the Christian Democrats in the event of a conservative victory, and the party could hold the balance of power in government. However Edmund Stoiber, the conservative Bavarian Prime Minister, who is challenging Mr Schröder for the chancellorship this autumn, has been careful to distance himself from the FDP. His conservatives are 10 percentage points ahead of the ruling Social Democrats in the opinion polls.

Paul Spiegel, leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, called Mr Möllemann's comments "the worst insult a political party has delivered in the history of the Federal Republic since the Holocaust".

Yesterday Alexander Brenner, the head of Berlin's 11,000-strong Jewish community, added: "By saying that the Jews themselves are to blame for anti-Semitism, Mr Möllemann is using the tactics employed by Goebbels."

Mr Möllemann and Mr Westerwelle were criticised by leaders of business, the church and trade unions yesterday. A statement from Germany's Foreign Trade Association said the anti-Semitism row "brings considerable risks for business, particularly foreign trade". Michel Sommer, leader of the German Trades Union Federation, described the FDP's stance as "unbearable in a democracy" and demanded that the party apologise to Jewish leaders.

In an interview published in Stern magazine yesterday, Mr Westerwelle said: "I stand by Jürgen Möllemann despite this mistake." In answer to suggestions that the FDP was attempting to win the support of the far right, Mr Westerwelle said: "We welcome anyone who wants to turn his sense of frustration into constructive political behaviour."

Since the controversy began support for the FDP has risen from 9 to 12 per cent in the opinion polls. Mr Westerwelle has said that his party is capable of winning up to 18 per cent of the vote in the general election. The stance taken by Mr Möllemann was praised by the Austrian far-right politician Jörg Haider last month.

The Free Democrats have worked in coalition with governments of the right and left since the Second World War.