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Merkel’s tough talk brings girl to tears

“Politics can be tough,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the crying Palestinian girl, who identified herself as Reem.AFP/Getty Images

ROSTOCK, Germany — Tough love is hard to sell, especially if you’re the German chancellor and head of a party that opposes same-sex marriage and wants to stem an influx of refugees.

Just as Angela Merkel faces criticism for backing more austerity for Greece, she drove a schoolgirl to tears.

The girl said her parents came to Germany from a refugee camp in Lebanon and were still waiting for a decision on their asylum application four years later.

“I don’t know how my future looks as long as I don’t really know if I can stay,” the Palestinian girl told Merkel in fluent German during a meeting with about three dozen students in the city of Rostock.

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Merkel responded with talking points, saying that while conditions for Palestinians in Lebanon are difficult, the country no longer has a civil war and Germany has to make room for refugees from war zones such as Syria.

She cited her government’s decision to speed up processing of asylum seekers.

“Some will also have to go back,” she said.

At that point, the attention of the crowd at Wednesday’s event shifted to the girl, now wiping away tears. Merkel, at first taken aback, stepped over to comfort her.

Merkel’s performance caused a stir on social media Thursday. “Angela Merkel brings refugee girl to tears,” said the online headline of Bild, Germany’s most-read newspaper.

“Politics can be tough,” Merkel told the girl, who identified herself as Reem.

“Like now, with you standing in front of me, an amazingly nice person, but you also know that in the refugee camps in Lebanon there are thousands and thousands – and we can’t say that you can all come.”

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