The gap between rhetoric and reality is especially stark when one compares the government programme to the election manifesto the centre right parties were elected on just two months ago
April 10, 2025 16:19
Anyone hoping for fresh momentum in Germany’s fight against antisemitism or more clarity regarding future relations with Israel was in for a rude awakening on Wednesday. The 144-page coalition agreement between the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), titled “Responsibility for Germany”, is a disappointment in that regard.
The agreement will form the work programme for the next federal government to be headed by Friedrich Merz (CDU), who is slated to replace Olaf Scholz (SPD) as chancellor on May 7.
From the perspective of the Jewish community and of Israel, this document is disappointing. Like previous coalition agreements, it contains statements affirming Israel’s right to exist, Germany’s special responsibility towards “our fellow Jewish citizens” and “Israel’s safety is Germany’s raison d’état – a phrase first used by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a speech to the Knesset in 2007. it has been repeated endlessly by Germany’s political leadership ever since.
But what any of that actually means – what efforts the federal government intends to make, and what levers it plans to pull – is left largely unclear. Sure, the coalition partners want to “promote the diversity of Jewish life in Germany” and – this is slightly more concrete – “refrain from funding organisations and projects that spread antisemitism or question Israel’s right to exist.”
Yet readers of the agreement are left guessing what the exclusion criteria should be and whether (as affirmed by the Bundestag but still the subject of debate) the IHRA working definition of antisemitism will be used as a benchmark. It appears that the negotiators from all three parties quietly swept aside anything still in dispute during the working group phase. Speedy government formation evidently took priority. The result is a consensus of the lowest common denominator.
The gap between rhetoric and reality is especially stark when one compares the new coalition agreement to the CDU/CSU’s election manifesto from just two months ago. While the SPD’s “government programme” was already vague and laced with platitudes, the CDU and CSU had previously struck a much firmer tone.
Under the headline “Never Again Is Now!”, the Christian Democrats had called for stronger action against antisemitism and laid out detailed proposals. These included tougher penalties for antisemitic incitement and requiring new citizens to affirm Israel’s right to exist. Yet very little of these demands made it into the final agreement.
The deal does, at least, foresee stripping individuals of their right to stand for office if they are convicted multiple times for inciting hatred. Penalties under Section 130 of the German Criminal Code, which criminalises public incitement to hatred or the negation of the Holocaust, is also to be tightened. The agreement also states: “We will examine whether it should be a criminal offence for public officials and soldiers to share antisemitic or extremist content in closed chat groups in the course of their official duties.”
However, there is no mention of the establishment of a German-Israeli youth exchange office, a CDU/CSU campaign promise and something that the previous centre-left coalition had agreed to set up in 2021.
In other areas, the new agreement falls behind even the 2021 deal made by the outgoing coalition of SPD, Greens, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP). There is no longer any mention of Germany’s commitment to oppose antisemitic resolutions against Israel at the United Nations. At a time when UN bodies continue to demonstrate their bias against the Jewish state on a near-daily basis, this does not bode well.
The section on Israel and the Middle East is similarly uninspiring. Beyond another affirmation of Israel’s right to exist and the invocation of the “raison d’état” there is a condemnation of the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel. However, the hostages are not even mentioned. The agreement affirms Germany’s support for Israel’s “efforts to ensure its own security” but gives no indication of what that means in practice, for example regarding German arms exports to Israel, which were temporarily suspended under the previous government.
The text then swiftly pivots to the Palestinians: it calls for the humanitarian situation in Gaza to be “fundamentally improved” and urges “a viable perspective for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians” and “a negotiated two-state solution.” Criticism of Israeli settlement policy, as included in the 2021 agreement, is now notably absent.
One sentence addresses German development aid to the Palestinians: “The extent of our future support for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) will depend on comprehensive reforms.” But what exactly these reforms might entail is left open, probably because of disagreements between the two main parties.
Back in 2021 and long before October 7, reforming UNRWA was already mentioned in the coalition agreement of the outgoing government. Yet despite so many scandals and a Knesset vote to end cooperation with the UN agency, Germany remains one of UNRWA’s largest donors world-wide. Given the wishy-washy language in the new agreement, that looks unlikely to change.
To be fair, there are a few bright spots. The government plans to support the creation of a Yad Vashem educational centre in Germany and is committed to strengthening Holocaust education. A restitution law for art and other cultural property looted by the Nazis is now also on the table. The Claims Conference and the Central Council of Jews in Germany have long been demanding such a law. Details are still to be worked out, including whether privately held looted art should be included.
Given the Christian Democrats’ bold campaign rhetoric calling for strong government action against antisemitism and in support of Israel, this agreement is a disappointment. Faced with urgent problems, this was no time for empty phrases or recycled political boilerplate statements. It remains to be seen if the new government, once in office, will make a difference at all.
Michael Thaidigsmann is the EU correspondent for Jüdische Allgemeine.
