German Donkey Mania Goes Sour – OpEd
Germany is under fire for putting donkeys above human life. The boiling controversy involves welcoming animals while refusing maimed children from Gaza.
At the heart of the matter is the eight donkeys that were taken – late November – from the war-stricken territory and relocated to two German locations, one to the Oppenheim Zoo and the other to a ranch in Lower Saxony. The transportation of the donkeys was facilitated by the Israeli “Starting Over Sanctuary” (SOS) as part of its “Project Donkey Flights”.
This was an initiative started in 2021 to transport “bereaved and stricken” donkeys from the occupied West Bank, war-torn Gaza and Israel. SOS director Sharon Cohen is a former officer who served in the Israeli army and long made it, her sole role to “rescue” animals and send them to “safe places” in Europe, through coordination with other animal rights’ organizations like the UK-based Network for Animals that serves as a platform for sending animals to the rest of Europe.
The latest batch to Germany is just the latest for the SOS that has been working since 2022 to send these animals mostly to France and Belgium. It is estimated that 600 animals were sent from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza but about 400 of these were donkeys. Why target donkeys? Palestinian observers however, say 100s of these struck animals were forced out of Gaza by the Israeli army, and in turn quietly but deliberately transported to Europe.
However, there is something fishy and sinister about this spurious activity and it is not related to animal welfare as is claimed by Cohen, and this is for all to see: In this Israeli genocide of Gaza over the last two years, donkeys were used as the primary means of transport to move 100s of thousands of displaced people in Gaza as all the roads, most of the cars and petrol stations, not to say anything about the houses and buildings have been destroyed through Israeli strikes and mass bombs.
The animal welfare claim is disingenuous also because 97 percent of the animal sector has been decimated in Gaza because of Israeli strikes according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. And while it was estimated that 20,000 donkeys existed before 7 October, 2023, today the figure is no more than an estimated 6 percent.
The donkeys reception in Germany, literally made through a media extravaganza, created a wide backlash against the government in Germany who refused to admit anyone from Gaza on humanitarian grounds. Despite the fact that hospitals in the country stated they are willing to receive the injured from Gaza, ministers soon put a stop to that, arguing complex bureaucratic and security procedures required by Berlin prevent their entry for treatment.
To show their strict policy, the German government allowed only two treatment cases from Gaza since 7 October, 2023. However, no complex procedure was needed to be followed for the donkeys, who quickly passed all the checking channels notwithstanding the fact that a rigorous quarantine procedure is usually followed against the bringing animals to any of the countries in Europe.
It seems in this case however, the standards were lowered and/or sidelined. But, this is even more dangerous because of the large amount of explosives, TNT and bombs and missiles indiscriminately thrown on everyone on the grounds of Gaza, creating a vast environmental and ecological disaster in the 364-square-kilometer Gaza Strip and where water, soil and air contaminated with environmental experts describing the situation as an act of “ecocide”. Thus, the emaciated animals that came through to Germany were the result of such actions.
Mind-blogging is the fact that over 100,000 tons of explosives was dropped on an area you could usually drive from its north to its south in one hour under normal conditions before the pre-7 October, 2023 period. The incessant bombs long created a public health crisis that affected humans, animals and agricultural sector with everything and everyone subjected to different forms of toxicities and harm.
The donkeys from Gaza have long been exposed to harsh conditions before they have either been killed by Israeli bombing sorties or die because of the current starvation. The German media went to town, glowingly describing the donkeys in their new green and pasture surroundings whilst even giving them new names like Elsa, Greta, Anna, and Rudy with carers providing extra blankets on their backs because of the cold weather difference between Germany and Gaza.
As part of the Project Donkeys Flight it was reported that 50 of these animals were taken en masse to southern France in July 2025. This was a prelude to the 400 donkeys that were taken out of Gaza during this genocide and is likely to increase in the near future. The sad thing of course is all this was happening when Israel was in full throttle attack on the people of Gaza.
Figures speak for themselves. Today the number of people killed in Gaza stands at over 70,000 whilst 170,000 injured with at least 20000 children martyred.
Germany and Europe are today under attack for what is seen as a policy of double-standards: One for animals and another for humans.
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