The Israeli flag was projected onto Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg gate on Monday night to honour the victims of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem a day earlier.
Behind the decision for the tribute was an online petition on change.org that collected over 4,000 signatures, and a push by Volker Beck, the leader of Germany’s pro-Israel caucus and a Green Party Bundestag member.
Mr Beck, in a letter to Berlin’s mayor, pleaded that the city “show solidarity with the victims and all those affected”, just as it has in other instances of terror attacks. After the terrorist attack in Istanbul last week, for instance, the gate was illuminated in the colours of the Turkish flag.
The powerful image sparked positive reactions on social media. The Israeli embassy in Berlin’s tweet of the photo was shared over 800 times and prompted the hashtag #BerlinfürIsrael. Fabian Weissbarth, the assistant director of AJC Berlin, tweeted, in German, that while it is “only a symbol, it is significant.” Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu responded with a “thanks, Germany” tweet and Jewish Agency spokesperson Avi Mayer responded the same way, only in German; “Danke, Deutschland.”
Other European cities have followed Berlin’s example. Rottderdam City Hall in the Netherlands is flying an Israeli flag at half-mast while the Mayor of Paris announced that Hotel De Ville, Paris’ city hall, would be lit in the colours of the Israeli flag.
In the Jerusalem attack, a truck was rammed into a group of soldiers, killing four and wounding over a dozen Israelis. Berlin was the victim of a similar-style terror attack last month, when a truck was driven into a Christmas market, leaving 12 dead and over 50 injured.
