Best-selling German newspaper Bild has placed a large placard in front of Iran's embassy in Berlin as part of a campaign against anti-Semitism.
The placard, which is mounted on a truck, reads, “As long as you finance the murder of Jews, we will write about it.” The sign also displays an image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Bild has earlier installed a similar sign with an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin in front of the Russian Embassy.
The Islamic Republic is the main supporter of the Islamist group Hamas, which declared war on Israel on October 7 and killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, during its multi-thronged attack in Israel. The attack was celebrated by the Islamic Republic, which is considered the main threat to Israel. Regime authorities, including ruler Khamenei, have repeatedly called for the destruction of "the Zionist entity” meaning Israel in the official jargon of the clerical regime.
Last year, German media reported that investigations were underway about the role of nearly a dozen people linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who were accused of launching attacks on Jewish centers.
Earlier in the year, the Berlin Police cancelled for the third consecutive year the "Quds Day" demonstration, an annual anti-Israeli event which takes its name from the Arabic-language name for Jerusalem and is usually held to express support for Palestinians and oppose Israel and Zionism. In Germany there have been repeated discussions about banning rallies to mark the day as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic chants are regularly heard during the events.
Also on Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was "ashamed and outraged" at a recent wave of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, warning Berlin would not tolerate such anti-Jewish hatred as he marked the 85th anniversary of the Nazis' “Kristallnacht” pogrom. Scholz was speaking alongside Jewish leaders at a ceremony in a Berlin synagogue, which was attacked with Molotov cocktails in a surge of anti-Semitic incidents that followed the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli retaliation.