Jews to return German honors in protest

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT, BERLIN
The Federal Republic of Germany's decision to award its highest honor - the Federal Cross of Merit, first class - last week to a harsh critic of Israel has sparked an outcry among Jews and non-Jews around the world.
Motke Shomrat, a 74-year-old Israeli recipient of the Cross of Merit, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that he planned to return it to protest the decision to honor Israeli attorney Felicia Langer, because "she praised Ahmadinejad and supports him. He is the new Hitler and wants to annihilate Israel."
Reached in Tübingen, a university city in Baden-Württemberg and her residence since 1990, Langer told the Post that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had not threatened to obliterate Israel, and while she didn't agree with many of Ahmadinejad's speeches, when he spoke about "the suffering of the Palestinians, he is right."
The state-controlled Iran Press-TV headlined on Monday its laudatory article about Langer, "Germany honors anti-Zionist Israeli Langer."
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