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Thousands of Germans and wide range of politicians show up to pro-Israel Berlin rally
(JTA) — Several thousand Berliners joined a rally in support of Israel and against antisemitism on Sunday at the city’s famed Brandenburg Gate as incidents targeting Jews, tied to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, continue to rise across the continent.
Organizers estimated over 20,000 participants turned up for the rally, which included exhortations from politicians, Christian leaders and relatives of families held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Police did not report any disruptions but estimated a crowd closer to 10,000, which would still make the gathering likely the largest in Europe since Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
The rally came against the background of a surge in antisemitic incidents in Germany, as well as several large anti-Israel protests across the country. A subsequent crackdown on hate speech related to Israel and Jews has drawn resentment from some on the left who say German authorities are curbing their freedom to criticize Israel.
But speakers at Sunday’s rally urged Germany to take an even tougher stand against those who call for Israel’s destruction and who threaten Jews living in Germany.
Speakers, including Germany’s president, Jewish leaders and Israel’s ambassador to Germany, stood up for Israel’s so-called special relationship with Germany, as an outgrowth of the Holocaust. Pacifists and hawks alike agreed that Israel has the right to defend itself and that Jews in Germany must be protected from antisemitic acts. And several called on German and European politicians to harden their positions against Iran, which they described as an exporter of terror.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that protecting Jewish life was a “civic duty” as well as a federal mandate. “Nothing has been the same since Oct. 7th,” he said at the event, which was broadcast live.
“Never since the end of the Shoah have so many Jews been murdered in an attack. Israel has the right to defend itself against this terror,” Steinmeier said, turning to address relatives of German-Israeli hostages, who stood with him on the stage. “We Germans are suffering, we are praying, we are pleading with you.”
Many speakers referred to the suffering of Gazan civilians under Hamas and called for humanitarian corridors to be set up. Steinmeier said Hamas only “pretends” to represent the population under their control. It is left to others, like Germany, to protect them.
In Germany, Jews and their institutions must be protected from terrorist threats, said Daniel Botmann, managing director of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, noting that perpetrators tried to firebomb a synagogue in Berlin last week.
“The mobs in the streets of Germany don’t represent the Palestinian people,” Botmann said. But perpetrators and agitators who turn out not to be citizens should be deported, he said, and there should be severe punishment for those who are citizens, so that they will think it over “100 times” before trying something like this again.
“We need more than just empathy and promises of solidarity. We need action,” he said.
If Germany does not crack down on extremists in its midst, “the terror from the Gaza Strip will also reach Germany,” said Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany.
“Synagogues in Germany have become targets. Stars of David have been painted on houses where Jews live. This cannot be tolerated,” he said.
“We will be measured by deeds and not just words,” continued Prosor, whose grandparents and father fled Nazi Germany. “All of us here are on the right side of history and we are strong if we stand together.”
Much mention was made of Germany’s support for Israel and Jewish life, given the history of the Holocaust. “There is a clear line between good and evil,” said Green Party leader Omid Nouripour, who is Muslim. “Hamas is evil, and we have to reject it.”
“It is high time that all those who were abused and taken away, all those whose suffering … come home,” he added. “We have to do everything possible” to that end. “We stand firmly on the side of Israel and democracy.”
In Berlin “there were people who were happy, who handed out candy and celebrated” after the events of Oct. 7, said the Iranian-born politician Bijan Djir-Sarai, who is general secretary of the Free Democratic Party. “We don’t want these people here.”
But most Muslims in Germany reject such attitudes, emphasized Social Democratic Party leader Saskia Esken. “The Muslims who live with us do not deserve this hatred,” she said, warning against allowing right-wing extremists to whitewash themselves by “turning the Hamas’ terror into a fundamental hatred of Islam.”
The event included words by relatives of Israeli hostages who hold dual citizenship with Germany, musical performances, and recitations of Jewish prayers for healing and mourning, led by Yitzchak Ehrenberg, a local Orthodox rabbi.
It was organized under the motto “Stand up against terror, hatred and anti-Semitism – in solidarity and compassion with Israel,” and it included a broad alliance of political initiatives and parties, trade unions and religious groups — including the Council of the Protestant Church of Germany and the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
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The post Thousands of Germans and wide range of politicians show up to pro-Israel Berlin rally appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Syria’s Sharaa Says Talks With Israel Could Yield Results ‘In Coming Days’
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks at the opening ceremony of the 62nd Damascus International Fair, the first edition held since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, in Damascus, Syria, Aug. 27, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday that ongoing negotiations with Israel to reach a security pact could lead to results “in the coming days.”
He told reporters in Damascus the security pact was a “necessity” and that it would need to respect Syria’s airspace and territorial unity and be monitored by the United Nations.
Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli airstrikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.
Reuters reported this week that Washington was pressuring Syria to reach a deal before world leaders gather next week for the UN General Assembly in New York.
But Sharaa, in a briefing with journalists including Reuters ahead of his expected trip to New York to attend the meeting, denied the US was putting any pressure on Syria and said instead that it was playing a mediating role.
He said Israel had carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syria and conducted more than 400 ground incursions since Dec. 8, when the rebel offensive he led toppled former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa said Israel’s actions were contradicting the stated American policy of a stable and unified Syria, which he said was “very dangerous.”
He said Damascus was seeking a deal similar to a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria that created a demilitarized zone between the two countries.
He said Syria sought the withdrawal of Israeli troops but that Israel wanted to remain at strategic locations it seized after Dec. 8, including Mount Hermon. Israeli ministers have publicly said Israel intends to keep control of the sites.
He said if the security pact succeeds, other agreements could be reached. He did not provide details, but said a peace agreement or normalization deal like the US-mediated Abraham Accords, under which several Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, was not currently on the table.
He also said it was too early to discuss the fate of the Golan Heights because it was “a big deal.”
Reuters reported this week that Israel had ruled out handing back the zone, which Donald Trump unilaterally recognized as Israeli during his first term as US president.
“It’s a difficult case – you have negotiations between a Damascene and a Jew,” Sharaa told reporters, smiling.
SECURITY PACT DERAILED IN JULY
Sharaa also said Syria and Israel had been just “four to five days” away from reaching the basis of a security pact in July, but that developments in the southern province of Sweida had derailed those discussions.
Syrian troops were deployed to Sweida in July to quell fighting between Druze armed factions and Bedouin fighters. But the violence worsened, with Syrian forces accused of execution-style killings and Israel striking southern Syria, the defense ministry in Damascus and near the presidential palace.
Sharaa on Wednesday described the strikes near the presidential palace as “not a message, but a declaration of war,” and said Syria had still refrained from responding militarily to preserve the negotiations.
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Anti-Israel Activists Gear Up to ‘Flood’ UN General Assembly
US Capitol Police and NYPD officers clash with anti-Israel demonstrators, on the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Anti-Israel groups are planning a wave of raucous protests in New York City during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) over the next several days, prompting concerns that the demonstrations could descend into antisemitic rhetoric and intimidation.
A coalition of anti-Israel activists is organizing the protests in and around UN headquarters to coincide with speeches from Middle Eastern leaders and appearances by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The demonstrations are expected to draw large crowds and feature prominent pro-Palestinian voices, some of whom have been criticized for trafficking in antisemitic tropes, in addition to calling for the destruction of Israe.
Organizers of the demonstrations have promoted the coordinated events on social media as an opportunity to pressure world leaders to hold Israel accountable for its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, with some messaging framed in sharply hostile terms.
On Sunday, for example, activists shouted at Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.
“Zionism is terrorism. All you guys are terrorists committing ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza and Palestine. Shame on you, Zionist animals,” they shouted.
BREAKING: PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTORS CONFRONT “ISRAELI” AMBASSADOR DANNY DANON AT THE UNITED NATIONS
1/5 pic.twitter.com/4G1VYEMGzV
— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) September 14, 2025
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), warned on its website that the scale and tone of the planned demonstrations risk crossing the line from political protest into hate speech, arguing that anti-Israel activists are attempting to hijack the UN gathering to spread antisemitism and delegitimize the Jewish state’s right to exist.
Outside the UN last week, masked protesters belonging to the activist group INDECLINE kicked a realistic replica of Netanyahu’s decapitated head as though it were a soccer ball.
US activist group plays soccer with Bibi’s mock decapitated HEAD right outside NYC UN HQ
Peep shot at 00:40
Footage posted by INDECLINE collective just as UN General Assembly about to kick off
‘Following the game, ball was donated to Palestinian Genocide Museum’ pic.twitter.com/TQ84sgZhKr
— RT (@RT_com) September 9, 2025
Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a radical anti-Israel activist group, has vowed to “flood” the UNGA on behalf of the pro-Palestine movement.
WOL, one of the most prolific anti-Israel activist groups, came under immense fire after it organized a protest against an exhibition to honor the victims of the Oct. 7 massacre at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel. During the event, the group chanted “resistance is justified when people are occupied!” and “Israel, go to hell!”
“We will be there to confront them with the truth: Their silence and inaction enable genocide. The world cannot continue as if Gaza does not exist,” WOL said of its planned demonstrations in New York. “This is the time to make our voices impossible to ignore. Come to New York by any means necessary, to stand, to march, to demand the UN act and end the siege.”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), two other anti-Israel organizations that have helped organize widespread demonstrations against the Jewish state during the war in Gaza, also announced they are planning a march from Times Square to the UN headquarters on Friday.
“The time is now for each and every UN member state to uphold their duty under international law: sanction Israel and end the genocide,” the groups said in a statement.
JVP, an organization that purports to fight for “Palestinian liberation,” has positioned itself as a staunch adversary of the Jewish state. The group argued in a 2021 booklet that Jews should not write Hebrew liturgy because hearing the language would be “deeply traumatizing” to Palestinians. JVP has repeatedly defended the Oct. 7 massacre of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel by Hamas as a justified “resistance.” Chapters of the organization have urged other self-described “progressives” to throw their support behind Hamas and other terrorist groups against Israel
Similarly, PYM, another radical anti-Israel group, has repeatedly defended terrorism and violence against the Jewish state. PYM has organized many anti-Israel protests in the two years following the Oct. 7 attacks in the Jewish state. Recently, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) called for a federal investigation into the organization after Aisha Nizar, one of the group’s leaders, urged supporters to sabotage the US supply chain for the F-35 fighter jet, one of the most advanced US military assets and a critical component of Israel’s defense.
The UN General Assembly has historically been a flashpoint for heated debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previous gatherings have seen dueling demonstrations outside the Manhattan venue, with pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups both seeking to influence the international spotlight.
While warning about the demonstrations, CAM noted it recently launched a new mobile app, Report It, that allows users worldwide to quickly and securely report antisemitic incidents in real time.
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Nina Davidson Presses Universities to Back Words With Action as Jewish Students Return to Campus Amid Antisemitism Crisis
Nina Davidson on The Algemeiner’s ‘J100’ podcast. Photo: Screenshot
Philanthropist Nina Davidson, who served on the board of Barnard College, has called on universities to pair tough rhetoric on combatting antisemitism with enforcement as Jewish students returned to campuses for the new academic year.
“Years ago, The Algemeiner had published a list ranking the most antisemitic colleges in the country. And number one was Columbia,” Davidson recalled on a recent episode of The Algemeiner‘s “J100” podcast. “As a board member and as someone who was representing the institution, it really upset me … At the board meeting, I brought it up and I said, ‘What are we going to do about this?’”
Host David Cohen, chief executive officer of The Algemeiner, explained he had revisited Davidson’s remarks while she was being honored for her work at The Algemeiner‘s 8th annual J100 gala, held in October 2021, noting their continued relevance.
“It could have been the same speech in 2025,” he said, underscoring how longstanding concerns about campus antisemitism, while having intensified in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, are not new.
Davidson argued that universities already possess the tools to protect students – codes of conduct, time-place-manner rules, and consequences for threats or targeted harassment – but too often fail to apply them evenly. “Statements are not enough,” she said, arguing that institutions need to enforce their rules and set a precedent that there will be consequences for individuals who refuse to follow them.
She also said that stakeholders – alumni, parents, and donors – are reassessing their relationships with schools that, in their view, have not safeguarded Jewish students. While supportive of open debate, Davidson distinguished between protest and intimidation, calling for leadership that protects expression while ensuring campus safety.
The episode surveyed specific pressure points that administrators will face this fall: repeat anti-Israel encampments, disruptions of Jewish programming, and the challenge of distinguishing political speech from conduct that violates university rules. “Unless schools draw those lines now,” Davidson warned, “they’ll be scrambling once the next crisis hits.”
Cohen closed by framing the discussion as a test of institutional credibility, asking whether universities will “turn policy into protection” in real time. Davidson agreed, pointing to students who “need to know the rules aren’t just on paper.”
The full conversation is available on The Algemeiner’s “J100” podcast.