"It is with great dismay that we observe the brutal attacks perpetrated by the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas on Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel, already claiming hundreds of lives - including women, men and children - and continuing to claim more lives still. Nothing can ever justify these barbaric attacks. As citizens of Bonn, we stand firmly by the side of our friends in Israel and especially in our partner city Tel Aviv-Jaffa," stated Katja Dörner.
"We demand that this violence against innocent people, which cannot be legitimized by anything, be stopped immediately. Our solidarity and sympathy also go out to the many people of Jewish faith who live with us here in Bonn and who are in great concern for their relatives and friends in Israel," the Mayor wrote. As an expression of solidarity with the people in Israel, Mayor Dörner has ordered the hoisting of the Israeli national flag in front of the Old Town Hall.
Mayor Dörner wishes the mayor and the citizens of Tel Aviv and all of Israel "that the acute threat ends soon and that no more blood is shed".
Background
The City of Bonn has maintained friendly relations with Tel Aviv-Jaffa for many years. The first contacts between the two cities were established as early as the 1970s in the context of student exchanges and partnerships between the universities in Bonn and Tel Aviv. These were sealed in 1983 with the signing of the friendship treaty between the two cities. The main focus of the friendship between the cities is the development and promotion of close civil society cooperation in the area of youth and culture. The friendship is supported by the German-Israeli Society.