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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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Danny Wolf will see you now
When the Brooklyn Nets drafted Danny Wolf this summer out of the University of Michigan, scouts said they were getting a versatile big man who could get buckets, create for his teammates and rebound.
But the last few days of NBA action have shown the Jewish seven-footer picking up a surprising new habit: putting his opponents on posters.
After scuffling through the first two months of the season with a bum ankle, Wolf announced his arrival Saturday with a thundering jam on the Milwaukee Bucks’ Kyle Kuzma, for two of the forward’s career-best 22 points.
He claimed his next victim, in a 10-point, 7-rebound outing two days later, driving from the top of the arc before leaping off his left foot and dropping the hammer on the Charlotte Hornets’ Miles Bridges:
“That may get two howls!” Nets play-by-play announcer Ryan Ruocco cried.
Early returns have been limited since the Brooklyn Nets grabbed Israeli point guard Ben Saraf and Wolf with the 26th and 27th picks this summer. The learning curve for young floor generals is notoriously steep, and Saraf — who wears the number 77 to represent the Hebrew word mazal, meaning good fortune — has struggled to stay in the playing rotation.
But Wolf, an American-Israeli who was bar mitzvahed in Israel, is finding his footing — at least when he’s not taking off for a dunk. He dropped in five high-arcing three pointers against the Bucks, eliciting excited howls from Nets color commentator Sarah Kustok; before the Charlotte game, he apparently told teammates he was going to posterize somebody.
“I was kinda saying that as a joke,” he said, “but looking at it as an opportunity, and just trying to attack the rim, I did it, with rewards.”
“He manifested it,” said teammate Nic Claxton.
Let’s enjoy one more picture of Claxton and Wolf:
And here’s a Danny Wolf meme for good measure, courtesy of the Nets social media.
The post Danny Wolf will see you now appeared first on The Forward.
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Turkey Pushes for Closer Ties With Iran Despite Mounting Sanctions as Both Countries Pursue Regional Ambitions
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 30, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Despite the recent reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran, Turkey has called for closer diplomatic and trade relations with the Iranian regime, as both countries seek to bolster their influence in the Middle East while openly targeting Israel.
In a new interview with the semi-official Iranian news outlet ISNA, Turkey’s Ambassador to Iran, Hicabi Kırlangıç, said Ankara was working to expand bilateral cooperation with Tehran by leveraging existing capabilities to increase economic ties between the two countries.
“One of the obstacles to expanding trade relations between Iran and Turkey is the issue of sanctions. However, we should not cling to this excuse and refrain from trying to increase trade relations,” Kırlangıç said.
“The goal is to raise the level of trade relations to $30 billion, but we are still far from this figure,” he continued, emphasizing the vast potential for economic growth and the need for careful planning to achieve it.
The Turkish diplomat’s latest remarks followed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit on Sunday to Tehran, where he also pushed for stronger bilateral cooperation between the two countries and denounced what he called “unfair sanctions” on Iran.
In a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Fidan reaffirmed Turkey’s support for Tehran while calling for the country’s nuclear program to be addressed through dialogue amid ongoing discussions to restart nuclear talks with the West.
After repeated unsuccessful negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, European countries launched the process to reinstate wide-ranging UN sanctions earlier this year under the so-called snapback mechanism, adding further pressure on Tehran, which was already facing mounting US sanctions.
Fidan called for the removal of these “unrighteous” sanctions, stressing that the Iranian regime must resolve outstanding issues “on the basis of international law.”
“Turkey has always stood with Iran and will continue to stand with Iran within the framework of international law,” the top Turkish diplomat said, adding that “these unfair sanctions should be lifted.”
During their high-level meeting in Tehran, officials from both countries vowed to significantly expand cooperation on trade, energy, border management, and regional security, noting that economic ties remain well below their potential.
As part of their announced initiatives, the two nations agreed to build a new joint rail line that will serve as a strategic trade corridor between Asia and Europe, with construction expected to take three to four years and cost roughly $1.6 billion.
Fidan also said both countries consider Israel “the biggest threat to stability in the Middle East,” pointing to the war in Gaza, tensions in Lebanon and Syria, and broader concerns over what he called “Israeli expansionist policies.”
“The international community must fulfill its responsibilities,” he said, calling for stronger global pressure on the Jewish state.
Amid international efforts to uphold the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and chart a path for post-war Gaza, Turkey — a longtime backer of Hamas — has been pushing to expand its role in Gaza’s reconstruction efforts, which experts have warned could potentially strengthen Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure.
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Israeli Real Estate Firm Denies Canceling New York Event Due to Anti-Zionist Group’s ‘Stolen Land’ Protest
Illustrative: Demonstrators attend an anti-Israel protest on the day of the two-year anniversary of the attack on Israel by Hamas, in New York City, US, Oct. 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
An Israeli real estate firm has denied canceling an event set to take place in New York City on Tuesday due to a planned demonstration organized by a notorious anti-Israel group, saying the cancellation was for unrelated reasons.
A spokesperson for CapitIL, which provides information about buying real estate in Israel, said the gathering was canceled so the firm could focus its resources on holding a larger event in the coming months, according to the Times of Israel.
The Israeli publication reported that CapitIL’s event for this week had already been canceled when the local chapter of the radical anti-Zionist activist organization Pal-Awda announced the protest on Friday.
“When we as a community challenge the zionists’ genocidal settler-colonial machine we can win! And we did! We forced the cancellation of zionist land thieving CapitIL Real Estate’s planned illegal land sale in Manhattan,” Pal-Awda posted on social media on Tuesday.
“All this shows the importance and strength of our community when we turn out to challenge these genociders,” the group continued. “Please continue to follow us as we will continue to expose and, with our community’s support, challenge the zionist entity’s long tentacles here in [New York and New Jersey].”
Pal-Awda celebrated the cancellation of the so-called “illegal” sale of “stolen land” in Israel.
“This series of cancellations speaks to the power of our mobilization: with every principled protest and disruption, we are making the theft of Palestinian land untenable in our neighborhoods,” the group wrote. “As our protests have grown in size, we have seen more and more agencies and organizations similarly cancel and delay events, fearing the consequences of accountability and community outcry.”
On Friday, Pal-Awda initially advertised the planned protest.
“A zionist real estate event attempting to sell land in occupied Palestine will be held in Manhattan,” it posted. “This event is part of the zionists’ ongoing effort to ethnically cleanse Palestine. Join as we confront the white supremacist, settler-colonial project!”
The group called for supporters to gather in force.
“As the United States continues to provide political cover & military support for the ongoing indiscriminate assaults on Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, & Yemen, zionist settlers are exploiting this moment to further their settler-colonial agenda,” it said. “This expansion is facilitated by zionists from all over the world, including most prominently in the US, through real estate events where Stolen Land is sold & discounted mortgages are provided by “isr@eli” banks backed by the zionist entity’s government.”
Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, called on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who takes office next month, to take an aggressive stand against such protests and push for a ban of such demonstrations in front of houses of worship.
“In my conversation with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani recently, I made it clear that the Jewish community will not stand idly by for such antisemitic and violent protests,” Schneier told The Algemeiner. “I hope that we will be able to work together to put my plan into action, creating a ban of protests on the property of any house of worship. This cannot be the new norm in New York City.”
Last month, Pal-Awda organized a gathering of demonstrators who called for violence against Jews outside a prominent synagogue.
The protesters were harassing those attending an event being held by Nefesh B’Nefesh, a Zionist organization that helps Jews immigrate to Israel, at Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.
“We don’t want no Zionists here!” the group of roughly 200 anti-Israel activists chanted in intervals while waving the Palestinian flag. “Resistance, you make us proud, take another settler out.”
One protester, addressing the crowd, reportedly proclaimed, “It is our duty to make them think twice before holding these events! We need to make them scared.”
Footage on social media also showed agitators chanting “death to the IDF,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces, as well as “globalize the intifada” and “intifada revolution.” Community figures described the scene as openly threatening and a stark escalation of anti-Jewish hostility in New York City.
Mamdani, a strident critic of Israel, drew immense backlash after releasing a statement which “discouraged” the language used by the protesters but also condemned the event for supposedly using “sacred spaces … to promote activities in violation of international law.”
Jewish leaders reacted with disappointment, arguing that Mamdani effectively provided political justification for a protest that targeted Jews for participating in a mainstream, fully legal pro-Israel program. Critics said the mayor-elect’s framing implied that the synagogue event, not the threatening chants outside, was the real problem, a position they described as deeply irresponsible amid rising antisemitism in the city.
Pal-Awda has vowed to hold demonstrations at “private homes, businesses, and houses of worship” if necessary “to stop the pipeline of settlement and zionist colonial expansion.”
In addition to the nixed CapitIL event, Pal-Awda also claimed on Tuesday that it caused Nefesh B’Nefesh to cancel a separate event planned for Thursday in Manhattan. The Algemeiner could not immediately confirm the veracity of that claim.
New York City has been ravaged by a surge in antisemitic incidents since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. According to police data, Jews were targeted in the majority of hate crimes perpetrated in New York City last year. Meanwhile, pro-Hamas activists have held raucous — and sometimes violent — protests on the city’s college campuses, oftentimes causing Jewish students to fear for their safety.
Leaders of the Jewish community have raised alarm bells following the rapid political ascendance of Mamdani, a far-left democratic socialist and anti-Zionist. Mamdani is an avid supporter of boycotting all Israeli-tied entities who has been widely accused of promoting antisemitic rhetoric. He has repeatedly accused Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide;” refused to recognize the country’s right to exist as a Jewish state; and refused to explicitly condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been associated with calls for violence against Jews and Israelis worldwide.