Convicted Arab terrorist Rasmea Yousef Odeh has been stopped from taking the stage in Berlin as an icon of the “resistance” thanks to protesters and those who respect the rule of law.
German officials banned her from engaging in political activities and asked her to leave the country over fears of causing incitement against Israel, according to a report posted Saturday by DW News.
https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-blocks-appearance-of-convicted-palestinian-terrorist-rasmea-odeh/a-47943023
Odeh, 72, is a Jordanian who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization and who has called for a worldwide boycott of the State of Israel.
She was scheduled to speak Friday at a cultural community center in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.
“Freedom of expression is a great good. If, however, the state of Israel and Jews are to be ruthlessly persecuted, the red line has been crossed,” said the state of Berlin’s interior minister, Andreas Geisel, on Friday.
Berlin Mayor Michael Muller said in a statement that Berlin is a tolerant city with no room for extremist propaganda. “Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic resentments packaged in liberation rhetoric have no place with us,” he said.
Odeh’s Schengen visa was revoked on the basis of the country’s Residence Act, according to which the political activity of a foreigner can be restricted if it endangers peaceful coexistence or public security.
Germany revoked Odeh’s Schengen visa in a last-minute decision Friday after heavy criticism by Israeli officials and protests by German Jewish organizations. The “Schengen” visa allows a person to travel for up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes anywhere in the “Schengen Area” of the European Union.
Odeh was convicted in 1970 in Israel for her participation in the murder of Leon Kanner and Eddie Joffe in the 1969 Jerusalem Supermarket bombing attack, and sentenced to life in prison. She served 10 years of that sentence before she was released in a prisoner exchange deal with the PFLP.
Odeh immigrated under false pretenses to the United States, where she became a citizen and served as associate director at the Arab American Action Network in Chicago. She was convicted in the United States in 2014 by a U.S. Federal Court in Detroit on charges of immigration fraud for concealing her arrest, conviction and imprisonment. In April 2017 she was stripped of her U.S. citizenship and in September 2017 she was deported to Jordan without serving jail time.