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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.

“Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are getting blurred, but they are two sides of the same coin,” said the Austrian leader, noting his country’s laden past regarding European Jewry. “We can’t undo history, but we can do justice to our history.”
Angela Merkel lost her mandate as the party’s leader, in large part due to handling of the refugee crisis, and will not seek the chairmanship at the party’s conference in December.
Since its founding in 2013 as a Euro-skeptic party, the AfD has been criticized by the mainstream German Jewish community over concerns of its views on Muslim migrants and country’s Nazi past. Yet Jewish supporters see the opposite. “I prefer to be part of a party that wants to help living Jews, not dead Jews,” said one Jewish supporter.
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who is rumored to be one of the candidates to succeed Nikki Haley at the United Nations, himself has traveled to Israel more times than he can count and calls Jerusalem “one of the most fascinating cities in the world.”
Falafel is supposed to represent a universal symbol of peace—the oily bond between Muslims and Jews, even as the Middle East fries in violence. But in Berlin, it has become a cause for concern.
In Mainz, a German city where a Jewish schoolgirl was recently murdered, attempts are underway to recognize its former Jewish glory.
Some German federal states, cities, institutions and politicians have put word to action, and Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt have barred BDS-affiliates from receiving municipal funding and space. Nevertheless, anti-BDS activists say a country that should know better still has a long way to go.
Religious Zionists have built their homes in Germany’s capital, where Jews of all backgrounds can connect with their roots, and feel a sense of family and belonging.