After Hamas’s attack of 7 October, Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Israel’s security a ‘reason of state for Germany’ (12 October). This position, which combines diplomatic dexterity and memory work (1), has taken on a particular complexion in the current situation. Several prominent progressive leaders have pointed to Germany’s Muslim population (5.5 million) as the source of a new wave of antisemitism and thus an internal threat. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, usually quick to call out racism, urged ‘people of Palestinian and Arab descent’ to ‘firmly reject terrorism’ (8 November). A week earlier, vice-chancellor and economy minister Robert Habeck had set the tone in a video address on social media: ‘When Jews are attacked,’ he warned, Muslims in Germany ‘must clearly distance themselves from antisemitism so as not to compromise their own right to tolerance’ (1 November).

But although all of Germany’s Muslim population are being called on to answer for Hamas’s actions, no one is asking its Christians and Jews to denounce far-right attacks or the Israeli army’s war crimes. Habeck, as the embodiment of the Greens’ new middle-class, Atlanticist identity, has used the conflict to lecture activists who still adhere to the Greens’ pacifist stance of the 1980s: ‘I’m concerned about antisemitism among a part of the left and unfortunately also among its young activists. Anti-colonialism must not lead to antisemitism. So this part of the left should review its arguments and mistrust grand narratives of resistance.’

While on 26 October the chancellor was celebrating Israel as ‘a democratic state guided by highly humanitarian principles’ and opposing any ceasefire, supporters of the Palestinian cause were the object of repressive behaviour: demonstrations against Israeli bombings were banned in several regions, as was waving the Palestinian flag and, in some schools, wearing a keffiyeh. In Berlin, which has a sizeable Palestinian population, the authorities revoked the right to use slogans such as ‘Stop the war’ and ‘Free Palestine’.

Organisers of the Frankfurt Book Fair indefinitely postponed awarding a literary prize to Palestinian novelist Adania Shibli, scheduled for 20 October, on the grounds that this was a time to make Israeli voices ‘particularly audible’. Co-chair of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) Saskia Esken thought it imperative to cancel a meeting with US senator Bernie Sanders, who had called the indiscriminate bombings in Gaza a ‘war crime’. Felix Klein, the federal commissioner for the fight against antisemitism, was troubled by the resurgence of antisemitic acts since 7 October. He nonetheless also expressed concern about the erosion of freedoms and pointed out that demonstrating is a fundamental right: ‘A blanket suspicion that all Muslims are antisemitic is of no help’ – especially as 84% of antisemitic acts recorded in Germany in 2021 were committed by the far right (2).

In this great moment of truth, the ‘values’ of hospitality, tolerance, protecting civilians and respecting international law championed in defence of Ukraine have shown themselves to be a thin veneer. To the point that the press is prepared to sacrifice its heroes: ‘An idol loses her way: Greta Thunberg and Israel’s leftwing enemies,’ ran a cover-story in the weekly Der Spiegel (17 November), which deployed a team of six journalists to take down the environmental activist and ask if she is ‘antisemitic or just incredibly naive?’

At the public television station ARD, journalists received a ‘glossary’ listing the words they should and shouldn’t use: ‘We still refer to “attacks from Gaza against Israel” and “terrorist attacks against Israel”,’ a memo from 9 October specified, but ‘what should be absolutely avoided are expressions such as “spiral of violence” and even “escalation in the Middle East” … Avoid talking about “Hamas fighters”. As the editor-in-chief has already decided, we should not use euphemisms for “Hamas terrorists” ’ (3). The influential tabloid Bild (13 November), meanwhile, has been campaigning to ‘take away refugee Reem’s German passport’. Bild now refers to Reem Sahwil, a young woman filmed nine years ago meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel, as an ‘antisemite and Israel-hater’ because she posted an image on social media that referred to Palestine ‘from the river to the sea’. A former Merkel advisor is demanding she be stripped of her German nationality.

A political calculation has been added to Germany’s historical guilt, which explains leaders falling so swiftly into step with the Israeli government, insisting that Israel is a bulwark against Islamism and using antisemitism as a pretext for curbing immigration. Soon after the Hamas attacks, Friedrich Merz, president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), explained on X: ‘Germany should not accept refugees from Gaza, this would make the antisemitism problem worse’ (27 October).

Alternative for Germany (AfD), the far-right party which presents itself as the most uncompromising defender of Israel, both in its political affinity with its prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and its Islamophobia, has been rubbing its hands in glee. Currently standing at over 20% in the polls despite its radical stance, it is establishing itself as the country’s second political force with an election year imminent (EU elections followed by voting in three Länder). Writer and journalist Carolin Emcke described the broad horizons this situation opens up for the party (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 17 November): ‘Watching this sad spectacle from the sidelines, AfD is taking delight in the tussle between racist resentment and antisemitic resentment’ – and applauding the leaders unleashing the former to fight the latter.

(1) See Daniel Marwecki, ‘A double-edged doctrine,’ Le Monde diplomatique, English edition, May 2020.

(2) Ashifa Kassam, ‘Rise in antisemitism “brings Germans back to most horrific times” ’, The Guardian, London, 24 October 2023.

(3) ‘Glossar Berichterstattung Nahostkonflikt. Zur internen Nutzung, stand 18.10.2023’ (Glossary for Reporting on the Middle East conflict. For internal use, as of 18.10.2023), document leaked online.