Latest news with #TheodorHerzl
Euractiv
a day ago
- Politics
- Euractiv
Europe's Gaza offensive
BERLIN – More than a century ago, Theodor Herzl – the founding father of Zionism – was among the star journalists at the Vienna daily Neue Freie Presse. Herzl's coverage of the Dreyfus affair in 1895 as the paper's Paris correspondent convinced him of the necessity of a Jewish state. Even though the Neue Freie Presse (re-established after the Second World War as Die Presse) refused to publish his Zionist treatises, it proudly honoured Herzl as 'one of our greats' when he died in 1904. Last week, however, the traditionally conservative, Israel-friendly paper ran an op-ed urging Vienna to join 11 other EU countries in recognising Palestinian statehood – a move the author argued could help bring Israel's nearly two-year war in Gaza to an end. 'If Austria's goal is to achieve peace in the Middle East, then it should set an important step by recognising a Palestinian state,' the column argued. The surprising declaration from Herzl's journalistic home was perhaps the most poignant sign of a wider mood swing in recent weeks as even pro-Israeli Europeans have become uneasy about Israel's handling of the war in Gaza. Public outrage in Europe over the rapes, murders and other atrocities committed against Israelis at the hands of Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023 has faded. Amid a relentless barrage of reports of a rising death toll in Gaza and shocking photographs of starving Palestinians – including many children – politicians across Europe, especially those in countries with large Muslim populations, have come under intense pressure to act. That shift could have profound implications for the Jewish state's long-term relationship with Europe as even politicians considered mainstream on the continent embrace once-fringe positions, such as halting all arms deliveries to Israel. Marking what would be the first concrete European sanction of Israel since the start of the war, the EU Commission proposed on Monday to exclude Israeli entities from receiving funding via Horizon Europe, the EU's flagship research and innovation programme. That move comes as another pillar of Euro-Israeli cooperation – the EU-Israel Association Agreement – faces intense scrutiny. There have always been pockets of anti-Israel fervour in Europe, in places like Spain, Ireland and even tiny Slovenia. But this latest vibe shift is both broader and deeper, reflecting in part the dramatic demographic changes Europe has undergone in recent decades amid an acceleration of migration from the Muslim world. In the UK, for example, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party faced heavy backlash from Muslim communities after its initial pro-Israel messaging – a reaction that senior party officials admitted may have cost the party decisive votes in two by-elections last year. French President Emmanuel Macron moved from arguing that a Palestinian state should come at the end of a peace process to promising to unilaterally endorse one, and ultimately set a concrete date for that last week: the next UN General Assembly in September. France is also currently co-hosting a three-day UN conference on implementing a two-state solution. Macron's move followed the publication of an international declaration endorsed by about 20 EU countries last week decrying the suffering of civilians in Gazans . The signatories core message: 'The war in Gaza must end now.' The countries behind the initiative did not just include the usual suspects – Spain, Ireland, Belgium – known for their affinity for the Palestinian cause. Stalwart allies of Israel – including the Netherlands, Poland, and even Austria's conservative government joined their ranks. (Austria's defection was perhaps the most surprising considering that the governing centre-right People's Party began flying the Israeli flag from the roof of the chancellor's office as a sign of solidarity long before 7 October.) German angst Germany continues to refrain from such public displays of discord with the Israeli government. That doesn't mean Chancellor Friedrich Merz isn't feeling the pressure. Across Germany, which has one of Europe's largest Muslim populations, the crisis in Gaza is an explosive issue. In a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, Merz stressed his 'great concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza', according to an official readout . Germany continues to regard recognition of Palestinian statehood as a final step towards a two-state solution, the government said – at least for now. After a special meeting of the country's most senior ministers on Monday, the German chancellor no longer ruled out that Berlin could support sanctions against Israel. According to YouGov's net favourability index, Germany remains the most pro-Israel country in Western Europe. Yet sentiment is shifting: net favourability towards Israel has dropped to –44% – the lowest level since records began. More Germans now report sympathising with Palestinians than with Israelis. Even Germany's diplomatic corps is showing signs of dissent. German media reported last week that 130 diplomats in the foreign office had formed an internal network urging Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul to consider sanctions and adopt a firmer line towards Israel. Aid for trade Much of the current ire is directed at Israel's restrictions on humanitarian aid – and at reports of civilians being killed while waiting in line for food. Israel largely shut down the UN's aid-distribution networks in Gaza in recent months due to concerns that much of the food was ending up in Hamas' hands. As the international backlash over its response to the crisis in Gaza reached fever pitch in recent days, Netanyahu's government agreed to a 'humanitarian pause' to allow more aid trucks to enter the area. Europe's main leverage against Israel is trade. The EU is Israel's largest trading partner, accounting for about one third of its global trade. Notably, Germany alone also accounts for a third of its major weapons imports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). So far, only five European countries have suspended at least some arms export licences. Among the few exceptions is the UK. Starmer's government cancelled some licences and imposed sanctions on Israeli ministers. But trade data shows Britain continues to export thousands of military items to Israel despite the official suspension. A number of other European countries, led by Spain, have been pushing for sanctions against Israel, arguing that it has violated the human rights commitments set out in the EU–Israel Association Agreement, a deal to deepen trade and political ties, signed in 2000. Israel managed to avoid trade sanctions in recent weeks by committing to allow more aid into Gaza. But the lack of substantial progress has renewed calls for suspension. The EU's chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, cast doubt on the deal's viability last week, warning that 'the killing of civilians seeking aid in Gaza is indefensible'. 'All options remain on the table if Israel doesn't deliver on its pledges,' she wrote on X. *Laurent Geslin contributed reporting. (mk)
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iran willing to use nuclear bomb against Israel, Netanyahu warns in Fox News interview
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Fox News on the Life, Liberty, and Levin show in a pre-recorded interview hosted by Mark Levin. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Fox News on the Life, Liberty, and Levin show in a pre-recorded interview hosted by Mark Levin on Saturday. Netanyahu addressed the war with Iran and said that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "rushed to weaponize enriched uranium after the fall of Hezbollah and the collapse of the axis." "We saw it. We said, within a year they will have a nuclear bomb, and they will use it," he continued. "Unlike other nuclear powers, they will actually use it, and they will wipe us out." Levin asked Netanyahu about the hostages still in Gaza and asked him how it was going. "We are doing everything we can not to cause them harm," Netanyahu said. "Israel does everything in it's power to avoid civilian casualties, Hamas does everything in it's power to do the opposite," Netanyahu continued. Levin then asked Netanyahu if he could meet with anyone from history, whom would he choose. Netanyahu, without hesitation, responded, "Theodor Herzl." Levin then asked Netanyahu if, with every choice he makes, he thinks of someone historical, and who would it be. "Theodor Herzl," Netanyahu responded to this question, too. "[He was] 36 years old when he said that the Jewish people would be annihilated by the forces of antisemitism in Europe," he said. "The only solution would be to resuscitate a Jewish state in our ancestral homeland, which we never gave up on." "He died at 44 and in eight years he launched this lit a fire in the Jewish people," he continued. "50 years later, there was a Jewish state." Mehdi Mohammadi, a strategic advisor to the Speaker of Iran's Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf posted an image to his Instagram story on Saturday, depicting two mushroom clouds and nuclear fallout across Israel, in a post seen by The Jerusalem Post.
Arab Times
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab Times
Barghouthi talk...and the barmy ‘intellectual blocs'
VIENNA hosted the first International Jewish Anti-Zionist Conference from June 13 to June 15 in the same city where Theodor Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in 1897. Despite its significance as a historic and exceptional event, the conference received minimal media attention, except for a notable piece written by Palestinian activist Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, from which I quote the following: The conference, attended by 500 participants, was titled 'The Jewish Anti- Zionist Conference' and brought together prominent Jewish and Palestinian figures. It was sponsored by the Austrian organization 'Democracy and Human Rights in Palestine', known for its anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist stance. The organization sees itself as part of the global liberation movement and is led by Jewish and Austrian activists in coordination with independent Palestinian figures. Several pro-Palestine Jewish networks took part, including 'European Jews for Palestine', 'Jews for Justice for Palestinians', 'Jewish Voice for Peace', 'European Jews for Peace', and the 'International Jewish Anti- Zionist Network'. The conference aimed to reject Zionism as a racist and colonialist ideology and to challenge the conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. The conference aimed to build a global Jewish front to resist colonialism and apartheid, acknowledge the Palestinian Nakba, and work toward ending it by supporting the Palestinian right of return and dismantling the Zionist regime. The final statement, written in bold and revolutionary language, firmly rejected Zionism, not only as a colonialist ideology but also as a racist regime that must be entirely dismantled. Some viewed the conference as a historic turning point in the Palestinian struggle against Zionism and a step toward breaking Zionism's monopoly on representing the Jewish people. It gave the Palestinian cause a new level of legitimacy in Europe, this time voiced by Jewish participants, which could mark the beginning of the end of Zionist blackmail of the West. By forging a Palestinian–Jewish alliance against Zionism, the conference moved beyond the traditional narrative of a 'conflict between two peoples,' posing a direct challenge to the Zionist discourse. The conference brought together prominent Jewish academics, activists, and intellectuals from around the world. Holocaust survivor Steven Kappus declared that Israel commits atrocities in the name of Holocaust victims, stating, 'Whoever lived through the Nazi hell cannot remain silent about what Israel is doing today in Gaza.' Other participants described Israel as a colonial apartheid regime, similar to the former apartheid system in South Africa. The event sparked huge controversy. Some critics accused it of distorting the memory of the Holocaust, particularly through its invocation of the 'Mauthausen Oath', in which Holocaust survivors pledged to fight fascism. Some claimed the oath was being weaponized against Israel and intertwined with conspiracy theories and antisemitic rhetoric. The conference also called for the liberation of 'Palestine from the river to the sea', rejecting the two-state solution as a façade for ongoing colonialism. Participants demanded that Israel and its leaders be held accountable before the International Criminal Court and advocated for expanding the definition of crimes against humanity to include settlement expansion and the blockade of Gaza.
The Herald
30-06-2025
- Sport
- The Herald
Theodor Herzl pupil realises a dream with SA soccer selection
Theodor Herzl pupil Adi Schmidt reached a new high in her burgeoning soccer career last week when she was named in the SA U20 women's squad to take part in the Cosafa region 5 tournament in Namibia. The 16-year-old grade 10 pupil has been selected for local and provincial representative sides before, but this recognition marks a big step in her development. SA will be up against Zambia on July 5, Eswatini on July 7 and Angola on July 9. For the passionate right-back or centre back player, it is the realisation of a dream she has had since watching a TV show called Supa Strikas . It was a heart-stopping moment when she first heard the news. 'My dad called me one morning and broke the news that I was selected for SA, and I sat in silence for a minute in disbelief,' the teenage star said. 'My heart was racing and I started jumping around my room. 'I couldn't believe it happened. 'This type of recognition at this level has been such a big dream of mine ever since I started playing, and it doesn't seem real.' 'The reason I started playing soccer was because I became obsessed with Supa Strikas when I was younger and I wanted to be like Twisting Tiger — it may sound silly but that's what drew me to the game,' Schmidt said. 'Soccer has become my life — I practise five out of seven days a week, with club matches on Sundays. 'I am always my biggest critic.' 'I enjoy soccer because of the spirit it generates and that it connects so many people.' Playing both for her school team and the Callies Football Club, Schmidt is ready to take ownership of her position and to make a positive contribution to the team. 'I have often been selected as a leader or captain in the teams I have played for. 'I am a vocal person and I always focus on communication, on or off the field, at all times. 'This does put the spotlight on me at times, but I believe that can only be beneficial. 'I remember when I played for an U8 team, I was the designated free-kick taker even though I was the only girl in the side. 'My favourite moment came when I was playing for the St George's U10 side in a final, with lots of people watching, and when we won, we were sprayed with Appletiser. 'We were super sticky but I was so excited because it was my first medal.' Schmidt, who also plays netball and hockey and does swimming, is grateful for the support she has received from many quarters, including her father, her U12 coach Donovan van Antwerpen, her interprovincial coach from last year, Philisa Komna, and her current club coach Fuz Finnis. 'He is a second father to me, helping on and off the field. 'I am so grateful to them all and everyone else who has guided me along this path.' The Herald
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
America's Anti-Jewish Assassins Are Making the Case for Zionism
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. The founding father of Zionism, the modern movement to create a Jewish state, had a Christmas tree. In 1895, Theodor Herzl, the Jewish journalist who would later convene the world's first Zionist Congress, was busy lighting the holiday ornament with his family when the chief rabbi of Vienna dropped in for a visit. The cleric was not amused—but the episode helps explain what Zionism is, why it came to be, and why it still finds adherents. Far from seeking to flee non-Jewish society, Herzl—like many European Jews of his era—ardently hoped to be accepted by it. He did not circumcise his son, and initially proposed that Jews evade anti-Semitism by converting en masse to Roman Catholicism. Only after such ill omens as the rise of Karl Lueger, the Vienna mayor who would serve as inspiration to Adolf Hitler, did Herzl reluctantly conclude that Jews would never be accepted in gentile society and pivot to pursuing Jewish statehood. Moving to a then-backwater in the Middle East was the last thing that Herzl wanted to do. It was also the last thing most Jews of his time wanted to do. Like Herzl, they simply sought to live in peace in the places they'd called home for centuries. And some, like Herzl, slowly realized that this was not going to be possible. As the historian Walter Russell Mead has put it, 'Zionism was not the triumphant battle cry of a victorious ethnic group,' but rather 'a weird, crazy, desperate stab at survival' made by those who foresaw their impending doom and despaired of other options. Seen in this context, Herzl's influential manifesto Der Judenstaat ('The Jewish State') was the 19th-century equivalent of Get Out for European Jews: a warning that well-intentioned liberalism would not save them, and that they needed to escape while they still could. Ever since, much of the world has worked to prove Herzl right. This past Sunday in Colorado, a man infiltrated a solidarity event for Israeli hostages in Gaza and began setting the Jews there on fire. The attack left 15 wounded, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. The Boulder assault occurred just weeks after the execution of a young couple outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., where a leftist extremist allegedly emptied his clip into one of the victims as she tried to crawl away. That shooting followed the attempted assassination of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on the second night of Passover. [Read: The deadly virus of anti-Semitic terrorism] The firebomber in Colorado was captured on video shouting 'end Zionists' during his rampage. The murderer in Washington produced a keffiyeh and reportedly declared, 'I did it for Gaza.' Shapiro's would-be killer told a 911 operator that he targeted the Jewish governor 'for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.' Although these assailants all attacked American Jews, they clearly perceived themselves as Zionism's avengers. In reality, however, they have joined a long line of Zionism's inadvertent advocates. As in Herzl's time, the perpetrators of anti-Jewish acts do more than nearly anyone else to turn Jews who were once indifferent or even hostile to Israel's fate into reluctant appreciators of its necessity. Consider the Holocaust, the greatest anti-Jewish atrocity in modern memory. The Third Reich and its many collaborators exterminated two-thirds of Europe's Jews. At the same time, the enemies of the Nazis—including the United States and Canada—refused to let most desperate Jewish refugees into their countries. This inevitably funneled many people toward their destination of last resort: mandatory Palestine. The creation of Israel was the consequence less of Jewish choices than of all other Jewish choices being foreclosed by non-Jewish powers. In 1948, Israel declared independence and fought off the attempt of five invading Arab armies to strangle it in the cradle. Some 800,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homeland. Wide swaths of the world promptly took out their displeasure at this outcome on the Jewish populations nearest at hand. In the years following Israel's founding, nearly 1 million Jews left their ancestral homes in the Arab and Muslim world. Many fled abuse in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria, and Tunisia, where Jews were imprisoned, tortured, murdered, and stripped of their possessions, despite having lived in these places for millennia. At the time, few of these people were Zionists. They loved their home countries, which refused to love them back, and faced persecution when they arrived in Israel. Today, this Mizrahi community and its descendants comprise about half of Israel's population and form the backbone of Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing base. The Soviet Union, despite presenting itself as the vanguard of universal brotherhood, also turned on its Jews. The Communist police state cast the community as subversive, institutionally discriminated against its members in higher education and the professions, and labeled countless Jews who had no interest in Israel as 'Zionists.' The state executed secular Jewish artists and intellectuals under false charges, repressed observance of the Jewish faith, and threw those who protested into Gulags. Eventually, after decades of international pressure, nearly 2 million Jews were allowed to leave. More than half moved to Israel, where they would become one of Israel's most reliably conservative constituencies. Simply put, Israel exists as it does today because of the repeated choices made by societies to reject their Jews. Had these societies made different choices, Jews would still live in them, and Israel likely would not exist—certainly not in its present form. Instead, Israel is a garrison state composed precisely of those Jews with the most reason to distrust the outside world and its appeals to international ideals, knowing that these did precisely nothing to help them when they needed it most. In this manner, decade after decade, anti-Semitism has created more Zionism. Put another way, the unwitting agents of Zionism throughout history have been those unwilling to tolerate Jews in their own countries. [Bruce Hoffman: The Boulder attack didn't come out of nowhere] Given this dynamic, a rational anti-Zionist movement would devote itself to making Jews feel welcome in every facet of life outside of Israel, ruthlessly rooting out any inkling of anti-Semitism in order to convince Jews that they have nothing to fear and certainly no need for a separate state. Such an anti-Zionist movement would overcome Zionism by making it obsolete. But that is not the anti-Zionist movement that currently exists. Instead, Israel's opposition around the globe—whether groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah or their international apologists and imitators—often seems determined to persuade those Jews who chose differently than Herzl did that he was right all along. Attacks such as those in Colorado, Washington, and Pennsylvania, not to mention the white-supremacist massacre at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, have raised the costs of being Jewish in America. Synagogues, schools, and other Jewish institutions collectively pay millions of dollars to secure their premises, resulting in communities that are less open to the outside and attendees being forever reminded that they are not safe even in their places of worship. And now American Jews thinking of attending communal events must stop to consider whether would-be attackers will associate them with Israel and target them for death. America, at least, was not always this way. The country has long stood as the great counterexample to the Zionist project—proof that Jews could not just survive but thrive as equals in a pluralistic liberal democracy, without need for their own army or state. After Barbra Steinmetz, the 88-year-old Holocaust survivor in Boulder, was attacked, she had a message for the country. 'We're Americans,' she told NBC News. 'We are better than this.' That is what most American Jews and their allies believe, and the justification for that belief was evident in Colorado this week, where Jared Polis, the state's popular Jewish governor, forthrightly condemned the attack. But if the perpetrators and the cheerleaders of the incipient American intifada have their way, that spirit will be stifled. Such a victory, however, would be self-defeating. According to video captured at the scene, the Boulder attacker accidentally set himself on fire in the middle of his assault. It would be hard to script a better metaphor for the way such violence sabotages the cause it purports to advance. If the anti-Zionist assassins succeed in making Jewish life in the United States less livable, they will not have helped a single Palestinian, but they will have made their opponents' case for them. They will have proved the promise of America wrong, and the darkest premonitions of Zionism right. Article originally published at The Atlantic
