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Jewish leaders concerned after Germany’s far-right AfD party continues to make gains in local elections
(JTA) — Jewish leaders expressed concern after the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, made major strides in two state elections this weekend, coming in at third place in Bavaria and second place in Hesse.
The results brought the party closer than ever to power-sharing in both states, though mainstream parties have vowed never to build coalitions with the anti-European and anti-immigrant party.
In Bavaria, Jewish community president Charlotte Knobloch said the election result, which would land 35 AfD representatives in the state legislature out of a total of 180, would “place a heavy burden on the work in the new state parliament; minorities such as the Jewish community will be further unsettled.”
But in congratulating Christian Social Union party leader Markus Söder on his overall win, Knobloch said she was confident his government would “continue the fight against extremism using all means possible.”
Since it was founded in 2013, the AfD has steadily grown in popularity, fed in part by popular anger at former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal policy towards accepting refugees. Some leaders of the party, which also supports Russia in its war against Ukraine, are known for having made comments belittling the Holocaust.
Theories that the AfD has more support in former East German states than in the country’s west have recently been debunked by recent opinion polls: According to nationwide surveys, the party now ranks second in overall support next to the mainstream conservative Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.
In Hesse, the CDU earned 34.6% on Sunday, followed by the AfD with about 18.4%. The AfD will gain 9 seats in the Hesse parliament, for a total of 28 representatives in the 133-member body.
In Bavaria, the CSU came in first with just under 37%, followed by the center-right Free Voters party with 15.8%, and the AfD with 14.6%.
As usual, when no one party earns over 50%, a coalition government will be built.
In a celebratory mood after Sunday’s elections, AfD leader Stefan Marzischewski said that the results showed the party was “in the fast lane in the former West German states.”
Central Council of Jews in Germany President Josef Schuster said he was “very worried” about the popularity of the AfD in an interview published Sunday in the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. He said he would seriously think of packing his proverbial “suitcase in the attic” if the party were to be part of a governing coalition in any German state.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
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