Panel
Between Solidarity and Hate. Effects on society in Germany
The escalation of violence in Israel and in Gaza has also led to social polarisation in Germany. Nuanced public debate hardly seems possible any more.
Resisting anti-Semitism and the right to free speech are played off against each other. The status of a commitment to Israel’s security as a fundamental principle of the German state is now challenged. Anti-Semitic hate speech is evident in both private and public discussions – especially on social media – and attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions have increased enormously. At the same time, Palestinians have been subjected to blanket suspicion and there has been a significant increase in anti-Islamic crimes. The journalist Alena Jabarine and the historians Per Leo and Meron Mendel discuss what this conflict is doing to society in Germany – from a Palestinian, German and Jewish-Israeli perspective.
Before and after the event, the “Reflexes & Reflections Library” in the Upper Foyer invites visitors of this event to read in-depth and visit the photo exhibition “Overlaps” by Ali Ghandtschi.
Please be mindful of our code of conduct for freedom of expression and respectful exchange.
With
Alena Jabarine – Journalist
Per Leo – Historian and Author
Meron Mendel – Historian and Author
Chaired by
Vivian Perkovic – Journalist, Television Presenter
Alena Jabarine is a political scholar and freelance journalist for the NDR programmes STRG F and Panorama 3, for WDR’s Monitor, for Die Zeit and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. She lived in the occupied West Bank from 2020 to 2023, reporting from there on her private Instagram account about political realities and everyday life on the ground. Jabarine is a German and Israeli citizen with German and Palestinian roots.
Per Leo is a German historian and writer. He published a novel (“Flut und Boden”) about the family of his grandfather Friedrich Leo, an SS Sturmbannführer in the Main Office for Race and Settlement. His non-fiction works examine the culture of remembrance in the dual context of the Middle East conflict and a society of migrants, and dealing with right-wing views.
Meron Mendel was born near Tel Aviv in 1976 and spent his childhood and youth in the kibbutz Mashabe Sade. He studied history, education and Jewish history in Haifa and Munich. Meron Mendel was already involved in peace initiatives during his youth and studies. He has been Director of the Anne Frank Educational Centre in Frankfurt am Main since 2010. Since 2021, he has also been Professor of Transnational Social Work at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. His book “Talking about Israel. A German Debate” (Kiepenheuer & Witsch) was nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2023.
In cooperation with Deutschlandfunk Kultur