Israel and Jews as an election issue I, II On September 26, | Daily Hummus

Israel and Jews as an election issue I, II


On September 26, Germany will hold federal elections. Merkel is making way for a new chancellor. The CDU and the Greens are engaged in a neck-and-neck race. In the process, Israel and the block of issues related to it in Germany - such as Antisemitism and Holocaust - are discovered as an election issue.
Since in Germany there is basically solidarity with Israel in all parties, there are at most nuances that can be exploited. While in the US the gap between Democrats and Republicans on this issue is widening, in Germany every party from the left-wing DIE LINKE to the right-wing populist AFD agrees on unwavering support for Israel. At least in broad terms.
The minor differences are mostly highlighted with domestic political intentions and this time for the purpose of the election campaigns.

Two examples. And I am sure much more will follow in the coming weeks.

1. At the party conference of the Green Party, where the candidate for chancellor Annalena Baerböck was confirmed, the well-known author and journalist Carolin Emcke gave a short speech. She said:

"There will certainly be talk of the elite again, and presumably it will not be the Jews and cosmopolitans, not the feminists or virologists, who will be warned about, but the climate researchers."

This sentence was just perfect for willfull misunderstanding. The secretary general of the CDU, Paul Zemiak, took the equation of "Jews" with "feminists, virologists, climate researchers" as an opportunity to immediately tweet:

"This is an unbelievable + history-forgetting derailment at the party conference of the Greens."

This gave the conservative and populist newspapers BILD and WELT the occasion to accuse Emcke and thus the entire Green Party of Antisemitism and Holocaust trivialization.

2. The CDU, on the other hand, has been acting as a particularly pro-Jewish/pro-Israel party.
After the latest antisemitic marches in German cities during the last escalation between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip in May, the CDU is working on a ban of Hamas flags.The very symbolic (and useless) law is expected to be passed with 100 percent of votes in favor as early as June.