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In Berlin, Netanyahu faces tough questions from a key ally, while Israelis abroad protest
BERLIN (JTA) – Approximately 1,000 people — most of them Israelis living in Berlin — gathered Thursday at the iconic Brandenburg Gate here to show solidarity with protests against judicial reform in Israel.
The protesters’ messages were intended for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in the German capital for meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Netanyahu also visited a Holocaust memorial, which is located at a site from which some 10,000 Berlin Jews were deported by train to slave labor or concentration camps in 1941 and 1942.
But Netanyahu never came near the protesters: Berlin took extreme security measures to keep the public away from the Israeli leader, who stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, more than three miles away from the site of the protests. Many streets leading to the hotel were blocked.
That didn’t spare Netanyahu from hearing criticism of his legislation, which would sap Israel’s Supreme Court of much of its power and which is currently advancing in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. At a joint press conference after a private meeting, Scholz said he had urged Netanyahu to consider a compromise proposal advanced by Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog.
“As democratic value partners and close friends of Israel, we are following this debate very closely and — I will not hide this — with great concern,” Scholz said. “The independence of the judiciary is a high democratic good.”
Netanyahu rejected Herzog’s proposal before leaving for Berlin but sought to reassure Scholz, who leads a key ally of Israel, that he would not reject democratic norms. “I want to assure you that Israel will stay a liberal democracy,” Netanyahu said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Benjamin Netanyahu. prime minister of Israel, hold a press conference at the chancellor’s office in Berlin, March 16, 2023 (Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images)
It was Netanyahu’s second trip abroad in a week, after a visit to Italy last week that also drew protests, though fewer questions from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The judicial reform proposals have drawn concern from many world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as from an ideologically diverse coalition of Israelis.
Those gathering at the Brandenburg Gate, a few miles away from Netanyahu’s meeting with Scholz, said it was important to show their solidarity with protesters back home, even if the Israeli prime minister could not hear or see them. By some estimates, there are up to 10,000 Israelis living in Berlin, not including those who have come here with European passports, which many have by virtue of the fact that their grandparents escaped or otherwise survived the Nazi regime.
“We want to let our people at home, our families, our brothers and sisters, know that we are here, we see them and they are not alone,” one of the local organizers, graduate student Yael Hajor, 33, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency before the event. She said her loose coalition worked together with an Israeli counterpart to reach out to sympathizers in Berlin, posting regular updates in Hebrew via WhatsApp.
“Actually, the visit of Netanyahu here helped us create more bridges between the groups” in the two countries, said Hajor, who plans to return to Israel after her studies.
At the Brandenburg Gate, a mixed bag of protesters gathered with posters, some waving Israeli flags, chanting and dancing to Israeli music. Some carried homemade signs with pro-democracy messages; other signs called Netanyahu a would-be dictator and compared him to Russian president Vladimir Putin. A group of women paraded in red robes meant to resemble those worn by women in the novel and TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which is also an emerging symbol of the protests in Israel.
“Most Jews are democratic and therefore this is really embarrassing, what is happening in Israel,” said German-Jewish scholar and pundit Micha Brumlik, one of about 30 Jewish intellectuals to sign a statement this week calling on Germany to “to distance itself clearly and publicly from the anti-democratic and racist policies of the Netanyahu government.”
Demonstrators protest against the Israeli government in front of the Brandenburg Gate during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Berlin, March 16, 2023. (Carsten Koall/picture alliance via Getty Images)
American scholar Jonathan Schorsch, a professor at the School of Jewish Theology in Potsdam, said he had a positive impression after wending his way through the crowd.
“I see that people care, and are trying to voice some opposition to this crazy putsch,” said Schorsch, using the German word for coup that is associated with Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. “It really is an appropriate word to use. It is very scary to me.”
But tensions over what messages to prioritize, which have also arisen in the protests in Israel, replicated themselves in Berlin.
“We are here to protest together with other Israelis against the new legal overhaul,” said Israeli graduate student Nimrod Flaschenberg, who previously worked for the left-wing Hadash Party in the Knesset. “But we also are saying that the deeper problem is the occupation and the oppression of the Palestinian people. And we think you cannot talk about one thing without the other.”
Brumlik, who made the rounds through the crowd on Thursday, described the protest crowd as both pro-Israel and anti-Zionist. “I am not really happy with the posters,” he said, explaining that “Israel within the borders of 1967 is not an apartheid state, and on the West Bank it can be debated.”
Berlin Jew Evelyn Bartolmai, who lived in Israel for about 20 years, said she normally does not go to demonstrations in Germany that criticize Israel.
“I don’t want to be lumped in with the antisemites who come to take advantage of the situation,” she said. “But this demonstration is not against Israel. Rather, it is against this government. It is for Israel, and that is why I am here.”
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The post In Berlin, Netanyahu faces tough questions from a key ally, while Israelis abroad protest appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Absolute Bagels is back — and Jewish New Yorkers are lining up in droves
Those who sat shiva for Absolute Bagels when it closed last December can put away their Yahrzeit candles. A year after the shop closed due to numerous health code violations, New Absolute Bagels has opened in its place.
Last year, the New York City Health Department ordered Absolute Bagels to shut its doors, citing conditions it deemed “an imminent public health hazard.” The beloved Upper West Side shop had racked up 67 violations, including evidence of rats and live roaches.
But that shop’s inspection history did little to dampen turnout at New Absolute Bagel’s opening this week. By opening time at 8 a.m. on Tuesday — day two in business — roughly 70 people had formed a line that snaked around the block on Broadway and 107th Street. Several people waiting on line told me they’d had an inkling the former shop might not have been up to code, but the bagels were just that good.
“This is the best news,” Mizia Wessel, a 25-year-old Columbia Law student, said of the reopening. “Honestly, I didn’t really care about the health violations. I would’ve kept coming!”
A few things have changed at the reopened shop: the name, updated decor, and an end to the cash-only policy. There’s a new owner, Kyung Mi Kim, a fact that required a surprising amount of research to uncover.
But customers informed me that much else remains the same. The shop is in the same location, still has no website, and still hands over bagels in brown paper bags. Much of the staff has returned. And, most importantly, by all accounts, the recipe appears unchanged.
“The egg bagel is pretty much like the original,” Shawn Rubel, who has been coming to Absolute since it opened in the early 90s, told me between bites. “They’re back!”
In honor of the reopening, bagels and coffee are free through Wednesday — but don’t push your luck.
“Two bagels a person. Don’t ask for more!” a worker admonished the crowd outside.
Still, nostalgia for the old Absolute Bagels runs deep. Suzie Newman told me her son went dumpster diving after the closure and rescued the shop’s cash register, which still sits in her apartment.
She’s not the only customer who claimed a souvenir. After the shutdown, a listing for three Absolute bagels appeared on eBay, with bidding starting at $49.99.
For Gil Schpero, a dozen Absolute Bagels was once his go-to gift for out-of-town visitors. He’d arrive at the shop at 6 a.m., eager to beat the crowds.
“I tried a bunch of different bagel shops,” he said, “and no one could really hold a light against Absolute.”
After hearing all this praise, I was eager to try a bagel myself. I reached the front of the line, where a woman in a Seinfeld baseball cap took my order. I went for an egg bagel with scallion cream cheese.
Here’s where I must confess: I’m new to New York City, which means I never got to taste the original Absolute Bagels. I took a bite, savoring the malty flavor, and wondering if I should recite the Shehecheyanu.
I’ll never know how it compares to the legendary original, but I do know this: That’s a damn good bagel.
The post Absolute Bagels is back — and Jewish New Yorkers are lining up in droves appeared first on The Forward.
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US Issues Sanctions Related to Iran and Venezuela Weapons Trade
A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, Jan. 20, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The US Treasury said on Tuesday it has added 10 individuals and entities based in Iran and Venezuela to its sanctions list, citing their aggressive weapons program.
The US Treasury has designated Venezuela-based Empresa Aeronautica Nacional SA and its chair, Jose Jesus Urdaneta Gonzalez, who it said have contributed to Iran‘s trade of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drones, with Venezuela.
“Urdaneta, on behalf of EANSA, has coordinated with members and representatives of the Venezuelan and Iranian armed forces on the production of UAVs in Venezuela,” Treasury said in a statement.
“We will continue to take swift action to deprive those who enable Iran’s military-industrial complex access to the US financial system,” said John Hurley, the department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
The US has ramped up pressure on Venezuela in recent months, executing a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean. It has also sanctioned family members and associates of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
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Spain Exempts Airbus From Israeli Tech Ban
Airbus logo is seen in this illustration taken, March 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Spain has granted Airbus exceptional permission to produce aircraft and drones using Israeli technology at its Spanish plants even though it banned military and dual-use products from Israel two months ago over its war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Approved last Tuesday by the cabinet and defended by several ministers this week, the exemption reflects the pressure from companies and domestic interests that some of Europe’s toughest critics of Israel’s recent war have faced as they attempt to impose trade sanctions.
It also risks increasing tensions within the ruling coalition between the Socialists and their hard-left partner Sumar when the government is already weakened by internal disputes and scandals over corruption and accusations of sexual harassment.
Neither Airbus nor the defense ministry was immediately available for comment.
SPANISH MEASURES ON ISRAEL WERE PASSED IN SEPTEMBER
Spain in September passed a law to take “urgent measures to stop the genocide in Gaza,” banning trade in defense material and dual-use products from Israel, as well as imports and advertising of products originating from Israeli settlements.
Its consumer ministry on Tuesday ordered seven tourist accommodation websites to remove 138 advertisements for holiday homes in Palestinian territories or face the threat of sanctions in Spain.
Spain has already blocked 200 attempts to buy material linked to Israel, its digital transformation minister Oscar Lopez told national broadcaster TVE on Tuesday.
Airbus, which employs about 14,000 people in Spain and accounts for 60% of its air and defense exports, was granted the first exception in a cabinet meeting last week, written minutes showed, citing the “great industrial and export potential” of its aircraft “considered essential … for preserving thousands of highly skilled jobs in Spain.”
The European aerospace company produces its A400M and C295 transport planes, an A330 MRTT refueling aircraft and SIRTAP surveillance drones at its sites in Madrid and Seville, all using Israeli technology.
The company is working with Spain‘s Ministry of Defense on a “plan to disconnect from Israeli technology,” according to the minutes published last Tuesday, which did not provide further details.