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Israeli President Shimon Peres (R) with his visiting German counterpart Joachim Gauck in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
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JERUSALEM (AFP/EJP)---Israeli President Shimon Peres used a state visit to Israel by German President Joachim Gauck to condemn beleaguered the Syrian President for becoming the “murderer” of his people.
Speaking during a joint press conference, Peres told reporters: “Their president, who is supposed to be the father of their nation, became their murderer”, adding that “nobody can remain indifferent to it”.
He paid tribute to the civilian victims and active participants in the uprising:
“A terrible human tragedy is unfolding before our very eyes in Syria. We cannot remain passive at the shocking sight of the mass graves of small children. I am full of respect for the people of Syria who are ready to risk their lives for freedom."
Israel’s first official reaction to the ongoing violence against civilians in Syria came as the UN confirmed that at least 108 people were killed in central village of Houla in what has quickly become known as the Houla massacres. Many of the massacred were women and children shot at point blank range inside their own homes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the Syrian administration, who have so far denied responsibility for the murders, issuing a statement on Sunday to say he was “revolted by the incessant massacres conducted by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces” against the citizens of Houla.
Addressing guests at a state dinner for the German President on Tuesday, President Peres called on Germany to “offer the world today an effective leadership model that can deal with the challenges of our day – against extremism, segregation, economic self-centeredness, against violence and terror”.
Paying tribute to Gauck’s own history as a freedom fighter instrumental in collapse of the Berlin wall, Peres commented on the lessons Germany had learned from their culpability in the Holocaust, which he said “remains a bleeding wound in our hearts”.
Describing Iran as an “immediate test” for Israel and the European Union, Peres invoked the example Germany had set in establishing freedom for its people, “including liberty from the regime which leads them today”.