Handshakegate in Syria: Jihadist in Tie Ahmed Snubs The Disgraced 'Feminist' German Foreign Minister

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Syria’s de-facto leader extended a hand to France’s foreign minister, but not to Germany’s Baerbock. Women’s rights were a focus of the trip.

She came to advocate the rights of women and minorities. She left without a handshake.
The Syrian leader’s refusal to offer a greeting handshake during a visit to Damascus this week was predictable, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

The incident nonetheless prompted a vigorous online debate over global political greeting protocols, as well as the label “handshake scandal” by German daily Bild, as Baerbock’s traveling partner, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, was offered a handshake.

Baerbock and Barrot are the first EU ministers to visit Syria since the ousting of Bashar Assad’s long-standing regime following an Islamist rebel offensive in early December.

The handshake incident is reminiscent of the so-called “Sofagate” controversy, in which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was denied a leader’s chair during a visit to Turkey in 2021.

Von der Leyen later said she felt “hurt” and “alone” during the incident, for which she pointedly blamed sexism.

Ahmed Al-Shar’a, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is the head of the main rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. A former affiliate of al Qaeda, the group has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Kingdom.

🛑 After the handshake affair Syria's new leadership makes Baerbock unrecognizable in photos.

The German Foreign Minister met the new Syrian ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus. He refuses to shake her hand - while French Foreign Minister Barrot is clearly recognizable in the pictures, the face of the German Foreign Minister has been made unrecognizable in photos of the meeting.

🛑 Baerbock's Germany launches €60 million of aid projects for Syrian Jihadists

🛑 I am asking for money, so I am wearing a tie.