Detestable.
German Green Party head high-fives Iran’s envoy
Claudia Roth under fire for warmly greeting Reza Sheikh Attar, whom Iranian Kurdish dissidents accuse of massacring Kurds.
BERLIN – Claudia Roth, chairwoman of the large Green Party in Germany, is facing a storm of criticism from media outlets, Iranian dissidents and pro-Israel advocates because she greeted Iran’s ambassador to Germany euphorically last week at the Munich security conference.
Roth’s high five, an American form of praise or encouragement, was caught on video. She used it to greet Iranian ambassador Reza Sheikh Attar, whom Iranian Kurdish dissidents accuse of massacring Kurds during his tenure as governor of the Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan provinces between 1980 and 1985.
Roth’s pro-Iranian behavior prompted Germany’s largest daily paper, Bild, to dub her “Loser of the Day,” on its front page because of her action. This category is reserved for people who engage in shameless, criminal, or embarrassing conduct.
Henryk M. Broder, a popular columnist for the daily Die Welt, said Roth belongs “in the hall of shame of politics” for her high five.
Vlad’s take:
Roth is a classic ‘Watermelon’ – green on the outside, red on the inside.