Israel welcomes German leader as ally against antisemitism

·1 min read

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's president warmly welcomed his German counterpart on Thursday, praising him as an ally in combatting antisemitism.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to meet with Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and is expected to reiterate Germany's strong support for Israel.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said that Germany has been “our strong partner in the uncompromising fight against antisemitism” and has stood with Israel against “the forces of terror who seek to wipe us off the map.”

Nazi Germany and its collaborators murdered 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust. Germany's postwar leaders have repeatedly apologized for the Nazi atrocities and it has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in reparations to Jewish victims. Israel and Germany have developed close ties in recent years.

During a solemn visit to Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Steinmeier said the “unspeakable suffering” caused in Germany's name “fills us with pain and shame.”

“We will keep the memory of this alive for the sake of those who were murdered and for the sake of future generations," he said.

Germany launched a new initiative with the United States last week to stem an alarming rise in antisemitism and Holocaust denial around the world.

The U.S.-Germany Holocaust Dialogue seeks to reverse the trend, which gained traction during the coronavirus pandemic amid a surge in political populism across Europe and the U.S. The dialogue creates a way to develop educational and messaging tools to teach youth and others about the crimes of the Nazis and their collaborators.

Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting

Recommended Stories

  • Manchester Jewish Museum, review: a powerful riposte to the poison of anti-Semitism

    Of all the extraordinary objects on display at Manchester’s reopened Jewish Museum, the most poignant is a pair of socks. Darned, re-darned and then darned again, they belonged to Helen Taichner, a Holocaust survivor who spent the war in hiding in Lvov, then-Poland. While the Nazis systematically hunted out and picked off almost every other member of the town’s Jewish population, including her husband and baby, Helen slept in churchyards and a coal cellar to escape attention. Miraculously, she m

  • UAE foreign minister: Peace with Israel will grow despite change in government

    ABU DHABI — The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, told me in an exclusive interview on Tuesday he is convinced that relations with Israel will continue to move forward regardless of the change of government in Jerusalem.Why it matters: This was the first interview Bin Zayed has given to an Israeli journalist. The interview took place on the sidelines of Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's visit here, the first official visit by an Israeli minister to the

  • Britain negotiating with Israel to receive 1m Pfizer jabs in 'swap deal'

    Israel is reportedly holding talks with Britain on a vaccine swap deal where around a million soon-to-expire doses of the Pfizer vaccine could be transferred to the UK as soon as next week. According to the Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, the talks are at an "advanced stage," and would allow Israel, which has a vaccine surplus, to trade away doses that are due to expire on July 30. In return, Channel 12 said Israel's health ministry would receive around a million vaccines that the UK is due to g

  • Iran’s supreme leader appoints new hard-line judiciary chief

    Iran’s supreme leader on Thursday appointed a hard-line cleric sanctioned by the West as the country's new judiciary chief, state media reported, replacing the president-elect who previously held the powerful post. The new chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, 64, takes the reins from Ebrahim Raisi, who will ascend to the country's highest civilian position after his election victory earlier this month. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, announced Ejehi's appointment, urging him to advocate for justice and fight corruption.

  • Russian jets 'armed with bombs' accused of 'mock attacks' on Dutch navy ship

    Russian fighter jets have been accused of "harassing" a Dutch navy frigate in the Black Sea as it carried out "mock attacks," the Defence Ministry of the Netherlands has claimed. Speaking out for the first time since the Dutch ship Zr. Ms. Evertsen accompanied HMS Defender on a patrol in the Black Sea last week, the Dutch ministry of defence accused Moscow of flying Russian planes “dangerously low and close by, performing feint attacks”. It comes after Russia said one of its warships in the Blac

  • Iran oil workers strike for better wages as economy suffers

    Thousands of workers in Iran’s vast energy industry have gone on strike over the past week to press demands for better wages and conditions at oil facilities, Iranian media reported Wednesday. The widespread demonstrations underscore the mounting economic pressures on the country as it struggles to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Footage has spread across social media showing construction workers at 60 oil and petrochemical installations, largely in the country’s oil-rich south, walking off their jobs in protest.

  • Iraq hedges its bets, cozies up to Iran as US pullout looms

    U.S. airstrikes against camps used by Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria aren’t substantial enough to fortify an eroding U.S. position as a key Iraqi leader appears to be hedging his bets about U.S. support, say analysts familiar with the internal power dynamics of the country.

  • Germany's Steinmeier to Israel's Rivlin: No alternative to two-state solution

    The visit was aimed at underscoring Germany's "close and unique relations" with Israel, a statement by Steinmeier's office said.Steinmeier told Rivlin that there were no alternatives to the two-state solution for the Israeli Palestinian conflict and that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons.During his visit, Steinmeier is scheduled to hold talks with the new Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, and with Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, the statement added.

  • Belarus leader has little to fear from EU sanctions - analysts

    EU sanctions designed to punish veteran Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko for a sweeping political crackdown will leave him largely unscathed and able to continue financing the economy and his security forces, rating agencies and analysts say. The European Union imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Belarus last week in response to Lukashenko's grounding in May of a Ryanair plane flying over Belarus and the arrest of an opposition journalist and his girlfriend who were on board, a move some EU politicians likened to air piracy. The EU has also criticised Lukashenko's suppression of opposition protests, jailing of political rivals and strangling of critical media.

  • Ilhan Omar Says She Doesn’t Regret Equating U.S. and Israel to Terror Groups

    During an appearance on CNN Tuesday evening, Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar doubled-down on her comments equating Israel and the United States to terror organizations or state sponsors of terror.

  • Israeli govt, settlers reach deal over West Bank outpost

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Jewish settlers have agreed to quit an outpost that has become a flashpoint for clashes with Palestinians who also claim the land, officials said, under a deal aimed at addressing an awkward political test for the new Israeli government. Under the agreement with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the settlers will leave Givat Eviatar outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The hilltop settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus was established without Israeli government permits in May and is now home to more than 50 families.

  • Erdogan defends Turkey's withdrawal from violence against women treaty

    Turkey's withdrawal on Thursday from an international treaty to prevent violence against women is not a step backwards, President Tayyip Erdogan said, defending a move which has drawn condemnation from many Turks and Western allies. "Some circles are trying to portray our withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention as a step backwards in our battle with violence against women," he told an action plan meeting in Ankara.

  • Soccer-Judge questions Brazil confederation over possible anti-gay prejudice

    A Rio de Janeiro judge has given the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) 48 hours to explain why none of their players at the Copa America are wearing the No. 24 shirt, with the number often associated with homosexuals in the country. Reigning champions Brazil have registered a full squad of players for the Copa America but unlike the other nine teams none were given the No. 24 shirt, according to the plaintiffs in the case, the LGBT rights group Rainbow Citizens. In Brazil’s illegal gambling game, the number 24 is linked to the deer, which has homosexual connotations in Brazil.

  • What Should Queer Representation in the MCU Even Look Like?

    Fans have been looking for queer representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for ages, but what could—and should—that actually look like? The post What Should Queer Representation in the MCU Even Look Like? appeared first on Nerdist.

  • Q&A: Why Bill Cosby was let out of jail – and could he face a retrial?

    One, in 2005 the then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor published a press release stating that “a [criminal] conviction under the circumstances of this case would be unattainable.” Second, during the civil case in 2005, Cosby testified in a civil trial against him. The US constitution protects criminal defendants from being compelled to testify against themselves. However, if they are given immunity from prosecution, then they can be compelled to testify in a civil trial. Evidence

  • Myanmar judge denies motion to dismiss evidence against Suu Kyi, lawyer says

    Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, 76, has been held in detention since the military overthrew her elected civilian government on Feb. 1. Her legal team head Khin Maung Zaw told Reuters the prosecution had entered evidence he believed was inadmissible, but the judge allowed it. The evidence includes letters the prosecution says were issued by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the days after the coup which were widely shared on social media.

  • Thailand buys 5 million doses of Moderna coronavirus vaccine

    Thailand said on Wednesday it would import nearly four million doses of Moderna's mRNA coronavirus vaccine towards the end of this year and a further one million in early 2022, for use by private hospitals. Thailand's vaccinations strategy so far has relied heavily on the viral vector vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and Sinovac Biotech's inactivated COVID-19 vaccine.

  • Photos show how Xi's Communist Party flexed its strength on its 100th anniversary with fighter jets and troop displays

    President Xi Jinping told crowds in Beijing the "Chinese people will never allow foreign forces to bully, oppress or enslave us."

  • COVID Outbreak at Illinois Summer Camp Linked to More Than 85 Cases

    An outbreak of at least 85 cases of COVID-19 came from a summer camp that hosted unvaccinated guests and did not require masks, according to the Illinois State Health Department

  • Saudis, Russia in Tentative Deal for Gradual Oil-Output Hike

    (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia and Russia have a tentative deal to gradually increase OPEC+ oil output in the coming months, delegates said.Negotiations over the details of the supply hike are still underway, the delegates said, asking not to be named because the information is private. The proposal under discussion would add about 2 million barrels a day to the cartel’s output from August to December, they said.The implementation of the agreement would be conditional on the status of talks between