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Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
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Antisemitic incidents in Germany almost double in 2024, report says
By Thomas Escritt BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of antisemitic incidents in Germany almost doubled last year, at a time of continued war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the semi-official German body that tracks antisemitism reported on Wednesday. The Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism (RIAS) said it had registered 8,627 incidents of violence, vandalism and threats against Jews in Germany last year, almost twice the 4,886 recorded in 2023, and far ahead of 2020's 1,957. "Objectively, the risk of being persecuted as a Jew in Germany has increased since October 7, 2023," Benjamin Steinitz, head of RIAS, told a news briefing on the report, referring to the start of the Gaza war. "But debates about what counts as an expression of antisemitism seem to take up more space than empathy for the victims." The largest category of incidents reported by RIAS - about 25% of the total - fell within the category of "anti-Israeli antisemitism", which covers criticisms of Israeli policy that some regard as legitimate political expression in a democracy. In a report published last month, Jewish activist group Diaspora Alliance questioned what it said was RIAS methodology equating such criticism with antisemitism. Alliance activist Jossi Bartal said RIAS' approach "delegitimises criticism of the Israeli state, marking every expression of Palestinian identity as suspect", alluding to Israeli policy towards Palestinians in occupied territories. Steinitz told the briefing in response to questions that the Diaspora Alliance report distorted RIAS' work. "I think the aim of publishing the report now was to present our work as somehow controversial and discredit the experiences of victims." Antisemitic violence, vandalism and threats have surged in recent years, with far-right Germans responsible for around three times as many incidents as Islamists, RIAS reported. For Germany, tracking such incidents and countering antisemitism is central to its post-war project of atoning for the Nazi-era Holocaust of Europe's Jews.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gaza war testing Germany's long unconditional commitment to Israel
By Thomas Escritt and Andreas Rinke BERLIN (Reuters) -A photograph of Zikim Beach in southwestern Israel near Gaza, attacked by Hamas militants in boats in both the 2014 and current Gaza wars, hangs on the wall of new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's office. The idyllic shot of a row of beach huts restored after the Hamas raids attests to the arch-conservative being a passionate supporter of Israel, in keeping with Germany's long-time solidarity in atonement for the Nazi-era Holocaust. So Merz's rebuke of Israel on Tuesday over its widening military operations in Gaza was a remarkable turnabout for many. "What the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip, I no longer understand the goal," he said. "To harm the civilian population in such a way, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism." Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul then said there could be unspecified "consequences" in a sequence of conservative remarks coordinated with Social Democrat coalition partners, marking a rhetorical break from decades of unconditional German backing for a country to which Berlin feels committed by history. Separately, Merz's fellow German conservative, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said deaths of children in the Gaza war have been "abhorrent", reflecting the breadth of disquiet in German elite circles. Alongside membership of NATO and the European Union, backing for Israel was the third pillar of Germany's quest for international rehabilitation after the Holocaust against Europe's Jews in World War Two. While some antisemitism lingered - Konrad Adenauer, post-war Germany's first chancellor, justified restitution payments for Israel that laid the foundation of German-Israeli relations by the need to appease "the power of the Jews" - the commitment to Israel's security shaped generations of German politicians. But the intensity of Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed over 53,000 Palestinians and was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 cross-border attack that killed around 1,200 people, has contributed to a pronounced shift in German public opinion. Only 36% of Germans now have a positive view of Israel, a 10 percentage point fall from four years ago, a survey for the Bertelsmann Foundation found. Germans under 40 consider themselves less informed about Israel than the over-60s, and are also less likely to believe relations should be shaped by memory of the Holocaust. This shift has imposed a dilemma on Merz, who on winning February's national election had promised Benjamin Netanyahu he would help the Israeli prime minister defy an International Criminal Court arrest warrant if he visited Germany. "They understand they have two opposing obligations and have to choose between them," said Moshe Zimmermann, an eminent historian of Germany at Israel's Hebrew University. "In the past they would have said our obligation to Israel is primary. Now they have to weigh the alternatives differently." 'TIMES CHANGE' Germany and other European countries condemn Russia for violating international law with its invasion of Ukraine and have imposed unprecedented punitive sanctions on Moscow, seeking backing for isolating it from countries as diverse as South Africa, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Western powers have not taken the same approach to Israel amidst steady accusations by rights and humanitarian groups of international law violations in its conduct of the war in Gaza, with many Palestinian civilian deaths, widespread devastation of infrastructure and a rising famine risk under Israeli blockade. "Times change," said Zimmermann. The trigger for German leaders' rhetorical shift came when a May 25 deadline passed without Israel heeding a European call to completely lift a blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Wadephul said there could be now no "obligatory solidarity" with Israel, while Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, the Social Democratic leader, said human rights standards were being violated in the Gaza Strip. The shift brings Germany into line with major European partners that have also been loath to pointedly criticise Israel over Gaza. France and Britain, joined by Canada, aired a similar message last week. Italy echoed it on Wednesday. In response, Netanyahu has accused British, French and Canadian leaders of being "on the wrong side of history". At a conference on antisemitism in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel was "the most attacked and threatened country in the world", adding: "The attempt to deny Israel its right to defend itself is horrific." Israel has denied violating international law in Gaza, saying it is targeting only Hamas militants and accusing them of using civilian buildings for operational cover. Hamas denies this. CULTURAL CHANGES IN GERMANY The change in Germany's tone also reflects a country that is far more ethnically and culturally diverse than in decades past. Fully a quarter of Germany's 80 million people now have a migration background - meaning at least one parent is an immigrant - and many of them are of Middle Eastern or Muslim heritage with an affinity for the Palestinians. "If you're asking a German-Syrian to come to terms with Germany's responsibility for the Holocaust, that's really strange," said Omer Bartov, a Holocaust historian at Brown University in the U.S. The consequences for German policy are unclear, Bartov said. Germany continues to sell weaponry to Israel, remains its largest European trade partner as well as on Israel's side in South Africa's genocide case against Israel in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. "It's a rhetorical shift and it could be very significant," Bartov said. "But the Israeli navy is made in Germany and right now the Israeli navy is firing shells into Gaza. "As long as they (Germany) don't take some (concrete) step, Netanyahu has no reason to worry right now."
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Elections, Gaza, polarisation drive political crime to record high in Germany
By Thomas Escritt BERLIN (Reuters) -A series of closely fought elections, the war in Gaza and deepening political polarisation helped drive the number of politically motivated crimes in Germany to a record high last year, with an especially sharp growth in far-right violence. The number of such offences recorded by police surged 40.2% to 84,172 in 2024, a report published on Tuesday by the Interior Ministry showed, a record since such data began to be collected in 2001. The number of violent political crimes rose 15% to 4,107, the highest level since 2016. "Last year we saw a massive expansion of politically motivated crime coming from the right," conservative Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told a news conference at which the figures were announced. "Forty-five percent of the victims of politically motivated violence were injured by right-wing perpetrators," he said. He gave the example of assaults on gay pride parades by organised groups of far-right young people last summer. Elsewhere, police recorded increased numbers of attacks on migrants, especially after several high-profile car-ramming and stabbing attacks on public events by immigrants, some of them asylum seekers. There have also been increases in politically motivated crimes by the far left though such offences were far less likely to be violent, the data indicated. Like other Western countries, Germany has been afflicted by tensions resulting from the rise of the populist far right, economic uncertainty and growing anger, especially among immigrant communities, at the government's support for Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The far-right Alternative for Germany scored its best-ever results in five elections - three regional, one national and one European - in 2024, calling for tighter immigration controls and even a departure from the European Union. The nativist party was earlier this month officially classified as "right-extremist" by Germany's security services, which listed cases of its politicians dismissing naturalised immigrants as "passport Germans" and implying that immigrants from Muslim countries were more likely to be criminals. But Dobrindt said he saw no reason to ban the AfD, a move some politicians have advocated. The AfD, now the second largest party in parliament, has denied posing a threat to democracy, says it opposes violence and has brought a legal challenge against authorities' characterisation of it as extremist. "To ban a party we have to have evidence of an attack on the rule of law and democracy," Dobrindt said, "and the security services' recent assessment doesn't sufficiently demonstrate that."
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German foreign minister warns countries can't fill gap if U.S. pulls UN peacekeeping funding
By Thomas Escritt and Olivia Le Poidevin GENEVA (Reuters) - Countries will not be able to fill the gap if the U.S. withdraws its funding for the United Nations peacekeeping mission, Germany's foreign minister said on Wednesday. "We won't fully be able to fill the gap if the U.S. withdraws from peacekeeping funding," Johann Wadephul said at a joint press conference at the U.N. Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres acknowledged that the Blue Helmets peacekeeping mission faced serious liquidity problems and urged states to pay contributions in full and on time. The White House budget office has proposed eliminating funding for United Nations peacekeeping missions, citing failures by operations in Mali, Lebanon and Democratic Republic of Congo, according to internal planning documents seen by Reuters in April. Washington is the U.N.'s largest contributor - with China second - accounting for 22% of the $3.7 billion core regular U.N. budget and 27% of the $5.6 billion peacekeeping budget. These payments are mandatory. The future of peacekeeping is being discussed at the two-day high-level political forum, with member states pledging support to the U.N. operations.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German legislator's concealed meeting with Putin confidants sparks security concerns
By Thomas Escritt BERLIN (Reuters) - German legislators are demanding an explanation from a senior Social Democrat on the parliamentary committee that scrutinises the work of the intelligence services after he held undisclosed talks with close associates of Russia's president. Ralf Stegner, a member of the Bundestag's Parliamentary Control Committee, was among politicians from the SPD and Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives who took part in the April meeting in Baku. Among those they met on April 13 in the Azerbaijan capital was former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Subkov, head of Gazprom's supervisory board, and Valery Fadeyev, EU-sanctioned chair of Russia's human rights council. On both sides, the participants were former members of the Petersburger Dialogue, a forum founded in 2001 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The forum was officially disbanded in 2021 after Russia's crackdown on several participating civil society organisations. Four German participants - Stegner, Ronald Pofalla - who once led former Chancellor Angela Merkel's office - and two former regional ministers - confirmed in a statement to Reuters that they had been at a "private" event in Baku. "Talking even in difficult times of growing tension is a fundamental principle of good foreign policy," they wrote, adding that the "confidential" meeting was not secret, and none of them had a public mandate to be there or had been paid for their presence. The meeting, first reported by ARD public television and newspaper Die Zeit, took place at a time when Russia's ties with the EU are in a deep freeze over its invasion of Ukraine. The timing raised questions over the apparent willingness of some politicians to seek rapprochement even as Moscow wages war on a German ally. In Stegner's case, critics also raised security concerns: Members of the parliamentary control committee have privileged, confidential access to the work of Germany's foreign and domestic security services, both of them heavily involved in gathering intelligence relating to Russia and the war. "This is a quite impossible and irritating development that must immediately be cleared up," Konstantin von Notz, the Green chair of the committee, told Der Spiegel. Roderich Kiesewetter, a conservative member of the committee, said Stegner should explain himself, while liberal European legislator Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said Stegner should not be nominated for a new term on the committee. "People in such a key role have to be above all suspicion," she told Funke newspapers. "That is not the case for him." (Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke, editing by Philippa Fletcher)
