It's hard for an Israeli not to be charmed by Germany's new Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert. In a Twitter post announcing his appointment, the telegenic 62-year-old opened up about his excitement at his new position in a Hebrew he's picking up at ulpan (Hebrew-language school). He comes across as open, accessible, sincere and confident.

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"Shalom, I greet you from the bottom of my heart from the German embassy in Tel Aviv," he said via video on July 11, showing the ease in front of the camera that comes from two decades as a television journalist. "I've only been here for several days, and I already feel it will be a great pleasure and honor to work on behalf of the special friendship between Germany and Israel."

Since commandeering the @GerAmbTLV Twitter handle from his predecessor, Susanne Wasum-Rainer, the German embassy's Twitter account has become a multilingual celebration of the surprising Israeli-German friendship that has developed since Israel and Germany established diplomatic relations in 1965.

"Fun word I learnt today," Seibert tweeted on Aug. 11. "Press conference in Hebrew is mesiba itonayim = press party. Doesn't always feel like one. (But I enjoyed today's)."

At that "press party," he engaged a range of Israeli reporters with the finesse of a man who has fielded questions from the media for decades. Seibert is Germany's longest-serving spokesperson, having served former Chancellor and head of the Christian Democrats Angela Merkel from 2010-2021.

With Merkel's departure in 2021 and the formation of a new government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats in December of last year, Seibert is now transitioning to foreign service and he makes it look easy. Indeed, with calm and balance, he offered the same defense of Merkel's positions – still valid under Scholz, who had been Merkel's Vice Chancellor – that he might have offered plucky Israeli reporters during the Merkel era.

These include his statements on Germany's domestic anti-Semitism problem (Germany is dedicated to fighting it); Germany's support for the "two-state solution" (the conflict must be resolved through negotiations); and the Iran nuclear deal (currently the best way to keep Iran from a nuclear bomb).

"When we criticize each other, we do it as friends, and we will always listen attentively to what Israel may have to say about our policies," Seibert told reporters. After addressing some hot-button issues, he said, "I already felt the Israeli way is to be direct and open, and I appreciate that a lot and I will try to be like that also."

This accessibility is unique for a German ambassador to Israel. By contrast, his predecessor's Twitter feed is boring and impersonal, punctuated by statements of support for the "two-state solution" and criticism of Israeli construction in eastJerusalem.

It was his successor, Steffen Hebestreit, who had to handle the Berlin press conference with Mahmoud Abbas that was certainly no party and more like a horror show. But Seibert was on it right away on Twitter, condemning Abbas for saying that Israel committed "50 Holocausts."

"What President #Abbas said in Berlin about '50 holocausts' is wrong and unacceptable," he tweeted. "Germany will never stand for any attempt to deny the singular dimension of the crimes of the Holocaust."

Seibert fired another shot in his "Operation Charm Israel" when he asked his audience to recommend places in Israel to visit so that he could "get to know the country – the entire country, not just political places."

"Maybe you can help me?" he said in solid Hebrew. "Send me warm recommendations of places I should see – those that don't appear in guidebooks."

'I will not meet with people who condone violence'

But among the first Israelis Seibert met in his official capacity were the heads of the far-left NGO Physicians for Human Rights in Israel. Posing with them, he wrote: "Germany is proud to support your project on mental #healthcare in the [Israeli flag] prison system."

The NGO's Twitter account dubbed Israel's brief Operation Breaking Dawn against Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) earlier this month "another lethal, disproportionate attack against a besieged population." This radical position attacking Israel's defensive measures seems to contradict Seibert's support for Israel during the skirmish, when he tweeted: "Germany strongly condemns the PIJ's attacks and calls for them to stop. Israel, like any other state, has the right to self-defense."

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The watchdog group NGO Monitor has described Physicians for Human Rights in Israel as an essentially anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian NGO masquerading as a human rights organization concerned with medical access for all. Germany is one of its primary international donors.

Germany and the European Union's funding and apparent friendship with NGOs deemed hostile to Israel at best or terror-supporting at worst has been a sore point in the relationship between Germany and Israel. Germany has also come under fire for voting against Israel at the United Nations. In July, Germany was among nine European countries that rejected Israel's designation of six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations.

The reporters at the "press party" didn't seem to be bothered by Seibert's engagement with a far-left NGO, but a reporter for the conservative Makor Rishon asked if he'd meet with "settlers" and the Yesha Council (the umbrella organization representing Jews who live in Judea and Samaria).

"I will try to meet with every element of Israeli society," he said. "I will not meet with people who condone violence, and I will not meet with people who condone racism. But other than that, I'm very happy to meet … because I think it's my job to know what sectors of society think, what their views are, what they propose for the future of Israel and report it back to my cabinet. Yes, it is something I want to do."

Was his meeting with Physicians for Human Rights in Israel just an example of his openness to all elements of Israeli society, including the radical Left? A request for comment from the Germany embassy has gone unanswered.

On Aug. 1, Seibert warmly welcomed his new Israeli counterpart in Germany, Ron Prosor, who launched his own introductory video in German, already showing a sharp contrast to his predecessor Jeremy Isaacharoff, who was criticized for not speaking German.

Seibert congratulated Prosor and thanked him for sharing "tips" at a café. Prosor is a veteran diplomat, having represented Israel at the United Nations and as Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom. Apparently, the two men have yet to discuss Germany's flirtation with and funding of NGOs hostile to Israel.

With the arrival of these two fresh-eyed, enthusiastic diplomats, Israeli-German diplomatic relations could be poised for a renewal, especially as Germany may become more reliant on Israeli defense weaponry and natural gas in the face of Russian aggression. Time will tell how Seibert will match words and deeds. Nitra'eh. We will see.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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In the continued fallout of the scandal surrounding anti-Semitic works presented at the Documenta 15 art festival in Kassel, Germany, director Sabine Schormann has announced her resignation. The Jewish community, however, has called for actual consequences related to the images on display, with the American Jewish Committee Berlin leading the call for her ousting.

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"The Supervisory Board expresses its deep consternation that clearly anti-Semitic motifs were to be seen on the opening weekend of Documenta 15," read Documenta's July 16 statement announcing the mutually agreed upon resignation of longtime director Schormann. "The presentation of the banner 'Peopleʼs Justice' by the artistsʼ collective Taring Padi with its anti-Semitic imagery was a clear transgression of boundaries and Documenta was thus considerably damaged."

The statement continued: "In the opinion of the Supervisory Board, it is essential to clear up this incident promptly, to draw conclusions based on scientific findings for dealing with anti-Semitic incidents in the cultural and art context, and to avert further damage to Documenta."

The announcement singled out the show's most controversial work, "People's Justice," a large-scale mural that featured unmistakable anti-Semitic images, such as a Jew painted with vampire-like fangs, a snake tongue, bloodshot eyes and an SS insignia, and the face of a Mossad agent shaped like a pig. Other works slammed by pro-Jewish activists include "Guernica Gaza," which compares Israeli operations in Gaza with Nazi Germany's air raid on the Spanish city of Guernica during World War II. The anti-Jewish bias has been attributed to the anti-Israel sympathies of the Indonesian curators.

Moreover, no Israelis were represented at the festival.

Following an outcry from Jewish groups, the Israeli embassy in Berlin and pro-Israel politicians, the anti-Semitic mural was first covered up, and then after internal discussion, removed.

"Gaza Guernica" and other questionable works, however, remain on display. Warning bells about potential anti-Semitic representation were already sounded by Jewish institutions leading up to the mounting of Documenta 15, but they seemed to have gone unheeded.

'Understood by some, but not by all'

Remko Leemhius, director of AJC Berlin, welcomed Schormann's resignation but doesn't believe the Documenta statement goes far enough in addressing the problem. In an op-ed published in the state-funded Jewish weekly Jüdische Allgemeine, he lamented that the Documenta board did not express remorse over the anti-Semitic images nor apologize to the Jewish community.

"Instead, the members of the supervisory board are only concerned about the reputation of the Documenta and lament the damage the art exhibition has suffered. The statement is simply shabby," he wrote in German. The reckoning over this incident, he said, should be conducted by an independent body.

"But apart from how Documenta will continue and what follows from this scandal," continued Leemhius, "the devastating realization remains that in Germany in the year 2022, it took weeks of immense public pressure – once again almost exclusively from Jewish organizations – before the display of Stürmer caricatures had consequences."

Leonard Kaminski, a spokesperson for the Werte Initiative, a Jewish pro-democracy lobby that campaigned against the anti-Semitic displays, has likewise called for more to be done, sooner rather than later, now that its call for Schormann's resignation has borne fruit.

Other anti-Semitic works also need to be removed, such as "Gaza Guernica," which some German intelligentsia might not regard as anti-Semitic given its anti-Israel thrust.

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"There are some forms of anti-Semitism that are very well understood in Germany and those that are much less understood," Kaminski told JNS. "Israel-related anti-Semitism is a form that is understood by some, but not by all."

To ensure that publicly funded cultural events and exhibitions are not plagued by such problems in the future, he suggests that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, which subsumes anti-Zionism, be used as the yardstick. The role of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, headed by Claudia Roth, must also be investigated, he stated.

'Ignorance is no excuse'

For Israeli-based German writer Chaim Noll, Schorrmann is simply one actor in a German cultural system that has been corrupted over the years by anti-Israeli staffers.

Additionally, he told JNS, "Claudia Roth has to step down, of course. She cannot remain in her position. She was responsible for this show and, even if she pretends not having known about the details, which I don't believe, nevertheless she is responsible. Ignorance is no excuse."

If an oft-fractured Jewish community mobilizes, unites and remains focused on goals representing their interests, he said, like in this instance, they can continue to hold Germany to account for their failings to keep Jew-hatred out of the country.

"German Jewry has to become more powerful, the attitude more energetic," said Noll. "It has been too weak. Jews in Germany are treated badly because they're known as a group that accepts being humiliated, and that has to stop. They have to show self-esteem and strength."

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