Germany probes Palestinian envoy's 'likes' of anti-Israel tweets

Germany's foreign ministry has launched an investigation after learning that the head of the country's mission to the Palestinian territories had "liked" several anti-Israel tweets, the Bild newspaper reported on Thursday.

Diplomat Christian Clages liked several of the tweets - including one involving notorious US anti-Semite and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke - on his verified Twitter account before "unliking" them, Bild said.

One of the liked tweets said "hats off" above a video of an attack on Israeli soldiers.

Another like involved a tweet by Duke about an alleged massacre by Jewish pre-state forces in 1948. Clages' Twitter account allegedly liked a response to Duke's tweet that read: "*Zionist".

A foreign ministry spokesman told Bild that the contents of the tweets were "unacceptable".

"We have immediately launched an internal investigation to determine how these 'likes' could occur," the spokesman said.