The Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei yesterday condemned what it called an “offensive, disgraceful” demonstration staged outside the Taipei European School on Monday in which a protester was seen and photographed waving a Nazi flag.
Even though freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, “we also respect the rights of people and especially school children in this case, not to be victims of an offensive, disgraceful act such as using Nazi symbols in a demonstration,” Israeli Representative to Taiwan Omer Caspi said in a-email to the Central News Agency (CNA).
Caspi said his office has been in close contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) since learning of Monday’s protest outside the Taipei European School in Shilin District (士林).
“I expect the Taiwanese authorities to take the necessary steps so these signs will no longer be used,” he said in the e-mail.
Caspi made the remarks when asked to comment on a statement that the ministry released earlier yesterday.
The ministry said in the statement that it had learned of the protest and called it “extremely regrettable.”
“While Taiwan is a democracy that protects freedom of speech, the swastika flag is associated with racism and human rights violations,” it said.
“A very small number of people have failed to understand the negative connotation of Nazi symbols,” the ministry said, adding that “any attempt to ignore historical atrocities and use inappropriate means to express views is extremely regrettable.”
An unnamed source told CNA that many parents have seen the same protester holding a Nazi flag outside the school when picking up their children.
Neither the Israeli office nor the ministry identified the protester, but the person is believed to be part of a group of supporters of the German Old Mark Association in Taipei that has staged similar protests outside the European school.
The group has protested for years against Germany’s alleged refusal to reimburse bonds denominated in marks sold to Taiwanese by the former Japanese colonial government in the 1920s.
At the time, Japanese colonial authorities were said to have forced many Taiwanese to purchase the bonds that Germany paid to Japan as reparations after World War I.
The group claims that Germany has since reimbursed old German mark holders in all countries except Taiwan.
A German Institute Taipei official previously told local media that the group has never presented evidence that the German Old Mark Association actually held such bonds and simply presented photocopies of marks that have gone out of circulation and are worthless.
The group has staged similar protests with a Nazi flag in front of Germany’s representative office in Taipei.
Taiwan does not have anti-racial discrimination or anti-Semitism laws, but two members of the group were each fined NT$3,000 earlier this year by a Taipei court for contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) during a protest.
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