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Orit Arfa

Orit Arfa is an author and journalist based in Berlin. Her first of two novels, The Settler, follows the aftermath of the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. Her work can be found at: www.oritarfa.net.

What remains up for debate is how much, if at all, Zemmour’s Jewish identity plays a role in his positions, popularity and electability among Jews and non-Jews alike.
The choice of the 40-year-old Green Party member leaves analysts and the media unsure over effects on the domestic Jewish community, anti-Semitism and Israel policy, among other things.
“We now have a culture minister who is a close friend of the Iranians and who has bowed her head wearing a headscarf in front of the mullah regime, in addition to being a supporter of the boycotters of Israel,” said Sacha Stawski, head of the pro-Israel watchdog group Honestly Concerned.
“When it comes to the liberal democratic party, that is a party which has traditionally been very pro-Israel,” said Sacha Stawski, head of the watchdog group Honestly Concerned and organizer of the Israel Conference in Frankfurt.
Rafael Korenzecher doesn’t foresee mainstream political parties, even the more conservative Christian Democrats, standing up for Jewish interests despite their lip service to the contrary.
“Usually, it’s a balagan (Hebrew slang for ‘mess’), and it’s beautiful. This year, it’s regulated from both sides, but it works,” said Jana Erdmann, head of press and communications for Chabad’s Jewish Educational Center in Berlin.
The positions of political parties on Jewish German life and Israel read well on paper, as they also did in person at a pro-Israel rally in May at the Brandenburg Gate, where all parties (aside from the excluded AfD) sounded unusually strong pro-Israel rhetoric.
Still, some attendees wonder: Why now? What’s the source? And will it be followed by real action?