Katsav: Ban Neo-Nazi Groups in Germany

Israeli President Moshe Katsav called on Wednesday for Germany to ban neo-Nazi groups to prevent them from gaining a foothold in society. "I believe the only way to deal with this is to make the neo-Nazis illegal," he told German public broadcaster ARD at the end of his three-day visit to Germany to commemorate 40 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), considered the most extreme of the German far-right parties, won a handful of seats in an eastern German state parliament last year for the first time in nearly four decades. The German government tried to ban the party in 2003, but the country's highest court rejected the attempt because a number of witnesses were party members who had agreed to supply information and were not considered credible. Katsav said however that he had "full confidence" that democracy would always win the day in the modern Germany.