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How Germany’s New Leader Can Make History
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader Friedrich Merz speaks at the party headquarters, after the exit poll results are announced for the 2025 general election, in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
JNS.org – The Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant observed that “out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.” Kant’s point was that human actions and the history they create are too complicated and too replete with contradictions to allow for utopian thinking or cast-iron predictions. The latest illustration of that dictum comes in the form of Friedrich Merz, the victor in last week’s German election and the new chancellor in waiting.
Eighty years after the defeat of Adolf Hitler and Germany’s Nazi Party, can it really be said that the leader of a country that conquered Europe, subjugated its nations and murdered its Jews now offers the best hope for the future of the continent, and thereby the rest of the world? Based on Merz’s past record and the promises he made during the election campaign, the answer has to be a tentative “yes.”
Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won 208 seats—well short of the 316-seat majority needed to form a government outright but within realistic sight of a coalition government. For now, Merz is focused on parliamentary horse-trading, opening coalition negotiations with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), whose share of the vote tumbled to just 16.4%—its worst performance for well over 100 years. Extremist parties also performed strongly, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leaping into second place above the SPD, and the Left Party, rooted in the former Communist regime in East Germany, coming fourth with nearly 9% of the vote.
If he can’t pull off forming a government with the SPD, Merz will be under pressure to open talks with the AfD, despite his pledge to retain the “Brandmauer” (“firewall”) that has kept the far right out of government in postwar Germany. That prospect may result in the SPD becoming more malleable in negotiations than they otherwise might be.
Once he begins the business of governing, Merz may well find that foreign policy occupies much of his attention, as well as sets the tone for how future generations will remember him. As this century reaches its quarter mark, Merz is assuming the chancellor’s office during a time of profound change for Europe. All indications are that the transatlantic relationship that formed the basis of the world order after 1945 is rapidly unraveling. After being forcibly pulled into World War II—only to emerge as Europe’s main security guarantor during the Cold War—the United States under President Donald Trump is pivoting towards Asia and the Pacific.
As shocked as European leaders say they are by Trump’s move, it’s been a long time in coming. During the twilight of his first term, former President Barack Obama told the Australian parliament that the “United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay.” Events over the last decade and a half—trade wars with China, the future of Taiwan, the threat presented by North Korea—underline that a good deal of merit underlies such a pivot. If the United States has to choose a region to prioritize, especially now, with ever-depleting resources and a public that is tired of foreign wars, it won’t be Europe.
Here is where Merz can make a real difference. Despite the estimate of the German commentator Jörg Lau that there is “hardly a more pro-American politician in Germany” than Merz, the incoming chancellor offered a matter-of-fact response to the signals from Trump that Europe’s privileged relationship with America is coming to an end. “It is clear that [the Trump administration] does not care much about the fate of Europe,” Merz declared during a televised debate. As much as that sounds like scolding, it might be better understood as the voice of a politician sniffing out a historic opportunity.
Merz has declared that achieving “independence from the US” in defense matters is his explicit aim. He is pushing for Germany’s defense budget to be boosted by more than $200 billion—no doubt an example Trump would urge other European leaders to follow. Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, who also sits on the center-right, are leading a push for European nations to take charge of their own defense, warmly citing Poland as a case of a government that has made this a priority, bolstering its defense spending in 2025 to nearly $50 billion.
As daunting as this task will be, it will yield more concrete results than an endless, fruitless debate with a White House that has so far taken a much more benign view of Russia than that found in European capitals. Trump may deem that Moscow is not a threat to Washington—at least not in territorial terms—but it remains the greatest single threat facing Europe. There is much to prevent Russian dictator Vladimir Putin from pushing his forces beyond Ukraine, not least his country’s faltering economy and the eye-watering human cost of his illegal, brutal invasion of his southern neighbor, but any European leader who believes that he will stop there is a fool. Indeed, if Trump does secure a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, Putin could well see that as a golden chance to regroup and rearm his forces. The challenge for Merz is to be ready for that eventuality and to be prepared to respond to any further Russian aggression with the use of force, with or without the United States.
A militarily strong Europe with Germany at its center (words that would have been unthinkable for most of the postwar era!) would be good news for Ukraine and other states in Russia’s sights. It would also be good news for Israel.
One of Merz’s first acts after winning the election was to announce that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was welcome to visit Germany without fearing that the arrest warrant issued for him by the International Criminal Court in The Hague would be executed on German soil, something the previous government of SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz wavered on.
Merz has also stated that Germany’s relationship with the Jewish state created from the ashes of the Nazi Holocaust is “unique—no ifs or buts.” Following the Hamas pogrom in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Merz said that Palestinian asylum seekers would not be welcome in Germany because his country “already has too many antisemites.” He will also take a tougher stance on Iran, having already criticized current German policy as “characterized by the idea of a cooperative government in Tehran” and declaring “this illusion has to be abandoned.”
Merz could, therefore, shape himself into a European leader without precedent: a Reaganite conservative and admirer of American democracy who nonetheless knows that the writing is on the wall as regards U.S. engagement with Europe. If that is the path he follows, we would be wise to hope that he succeeds.
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Controversial Israeli-Palestinian Film ‘No Other Land’ Wins Best Documentary at Oscars
Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film for “No Other Land” during the Oscars show at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
An Israeli-Palestinian film that focuses on the demolition of a small community in the West Bank and is critical of Israel’s military actions won best documentary feature film at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday.
“No Other Land” chronicles Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the West Bank, and the struggles of Palestinians who confront Israeli armed forces over being evicted from the land so it can turn into a military training facility. The one-sided film depicts Israel as a violent land stealer that oppresses, displaces, and brings suffering to Palestinian families in Masafer Yatta, without explaining that the Palestinians illegally built homes on land that Israel had claimed for a military training zone in the 1980s.
“No Other Land” was made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists including Basel Adra, a Palestinian who lives in Masafer Yatta with his family. He made “No Other Land” with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, Israeli cinematographer Rachel Szor, and Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian photographer and filmmaker. “‘No Other Land’ is an unflinching account of a community’s mass expulsion and acts as a creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice,” according to the film’s synopsis, which also accuses Israel of “occupation.”
Even though “No Other Land” ended filming in 2023, before the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the filmmakers criticized Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during their acceptance speeches at the Oscars.
Adra said the film “reflects the harsh reality that we have been enduring for decades.” He called on the international community “to take serious actions to stop the injustice and stop the ethnic cleaning of Palestinian people.”
“About two months ago I became a father and my hope to my daughter that she would not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settler violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements that my community Masafer Yatta is living and facing every day on the Israeli occupation,” he told the audience.
Abraham briefly mentioned the hostages abducted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023 — many of whom remain held captive in Gaza by the US-designated terrorist organization — before further criticizing Israel and accusing it of displaying “ethnic supremacy” in its treatment of Palestinians. He also attacked US foreign policy, claiming it hinders peace between Israel and Palestinians.
“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger. We see each other. The atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end. The Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of Oct. 7 which must be freed,” he said. “When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life, and he cannot control [it]. There is a different path, a political solution without ethnic supremacy with national rights for both of our people. And the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path. Why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free and safe. There is another way. It’s not too late for life, for the living.”
“No Other Land” has won several awards, including the prestigious Berlinale Documentary Award and Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film.
Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar said in a post on X that the film’s Oscar win on Sunday was “a sad moment for the world of cinema.”
“Instead of presenting the complexity of Israeli reality, the filmmakers chose to amplify narratives that distort Israel’s image vis-à-vis international audiences,” Zohar wrote. “Freedom of expression is an important value, but turning the defamation of Israel into a tool for international promotion is not art — it is sabotage against the State of Israel, especially in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre and the ongoing war.”
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Adrien Brody Condemns Antisemitism After Winning Oscar for Playing Holocaust Survivor in ‘The Brutalist’
Adrien Brody poses with the Oscar for Best Actor for “The Brutalist” in the Oscars photo room at the 97th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, March 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Daniel Cole
Jewish actor Adrien Brody has now won two Oscars for best actor, after taking home the honor on Sunday at the 97th Academy Awards for his role as a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor and architect in “The Brutalist.”
Brody, 51, won one of the night’s biggest awards for his portrayal of Lázló Tóth, a fictional character who escaped the Holocaust and then immigrated to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream. The actor, whose parents are both Jewish, beat fellow nominees Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”) Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”), and Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice”).
Brody previously won an Academy Award for best actor in 2002 for his role in Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist,” in which he played a Polish-Jewish musician who struggles to survive World War II while hiding from the Nazis in Warsaw. His return to the Oscars on Sunday, 22 years later, is the second longest gap between wins for best actor, following a span of 29 years between wins for “Silence of the Lambs” and “The Father” for Anthony Hopkins, according to the Associated Press.
In his acceptance speech on Sunday at the Academy Awards, Brody discussed his return to the Oscars stage for again playing a Holocaust survivor. He also denounced antisemitism and racism.
“I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression and of antisemitism and racism and othering,” he said in part. “I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world. And I believe if the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked. Let’s fight for what’s right. Keep smiling, keep loving one another. Let’s rebuild together.”
Brody also won best actor for his role in “The Brutalist” at the Golden Globes in January. He took home the same honor at the British Academy Film Awards in February, and in his acceptance speech he also spoke about antisemitism. “[‘The Brutalist’] speaks to the need for all of us to share in the responsibility of how we want others to be treated and how we want to be treated by others,” he said. “There’s no place any more for antisemitism. There’s no place for racism.”
“The Brutalist” was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture and best director. Brody starred in the film alongside Felicity Jones, who plays Tóth’s wife, and Guy Pearce, who plays a man who sexually assaults the Holocaust survivor. A best supporting actor nominee, Pearce attended the Oscars on Sunday wearing on his tuxedo a pin featuring a white dove that is holding an olive branch and emblazoned with the phrase “Free Palestine.” At last year’s Cannes Film Festival, he wore a Palestinian flag on the lapel of his tuxedo.
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German Authorities Reopen Probe Into Deadly 1970 Arson Attack on Jewish Elderly Home
An installation in downtown Munich commemorating the Feb. 13, 1970, arson attack on a Jewish community center in which seven elderly people died. Photo: @springermunich/X
Law enforcement in Germany has reopened a long-dormant investigation into the 1970 arson attack on a Jewish community center in the city of Munich that killed seven elderly residents, according to German media.
“On Jan. 31, 2025, the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the arson attack on the Israelite Religious Community’s nursing home,” senior prosecutor Andreas Franck told the German tabloid newspaper Bild last week.
Franck, who also serves as the antisemitism commissioner of the Bavarian judiciary, will be leading the probe. He was recently contacted by a witness with new and “credible” information about possible perpetrators, Bild reported.
Fifty-five years later, the long-forgotten Feb. 13, 1970, attack, which took place during a wave of terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets, remains unsolved.
One week before the arson, Palestinian terrorists opened fire on passengers lined up for a flight to Tel Aviv at Munich Airport, killing one person and injuring 23.
According to a report from German police at the time, the Palestinian terrorist organization that claimed responsibility for the Munich Airport attack denied any involvement in the fire at the Jewish community center.
On the night of the arson attack, unknown individuals set fire to a four-story building that housed a community center, a retirement home, and a synagogue, with 50 people inside, leaving 13 injured. Police later ruled the attack as arson after finding a gasoline can in the stairwell.
Five men and two women were killed in the attack: Regina Rivka Becher (59), David Jakubowicz (59), Rosa Drucker (59), Georg Eljakim Pfau (63), Leopold Arie Leib Gimpel (69), Siegfried Offenbacher (71), and Meir Max Blum (71). Among the victims, Jakubowicz and Pfau were survivors of Nazi concentration camps.
In 2012, fresh evidence suggested that the attack may have been carried out by an anti-Zionist anarchist group. However, Munich prosecutors later determined that the information was “inaccurate.”
In 2013, an anonymous source claimed in an article for the German magazine Focus that a member of the far-left extremist group Tupamaros West-Berlin (TW) was responsible for the attack. The investigation was closed in November 2017.
At the time of the arson, the West German government offered a reward of 75,000 marks ($20,500) for information leading to the capture of the arsonists responsible for the atrocity.
Then-West German President Gustav Heinemann condemned the attack, saying he was especially outraged because the victims had already endured immense suffering in their lives.
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