The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Germany surged to a two-decade high in 2020. The anti-Semitism is being fueled by far-left anti-Israel activists, by mass migration from the Muslim world and by far-right conspiracy theorists, who are blaming the Coronavirus pandemic on both Jews and Israel.
The European Union’s vaccination rollout has been plagued by bureaucratic sclerosis, poorly-negotiated contracts, penny-pinching and blame shifting — all wrapped in a shroud of secrecy. The result is a needless and embarrassing shortage of vaccines, and yet another a crisis of legitimacy for the EU.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has announced her intention to significantly limit the number of people seeking asylum in Denmark. The aim, she said, is to preserve “social cohesion” in the country.
Armin Laschet, premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, has been chosen as the new leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He is now in a position to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor after general elections this September.
The European Union has negotiated a controversial trade deal with China. The pact has been widely criticized because European leaders, in their apparent rush to reach an agreement, have sacrificed their professed concern for human rights on the altar of financial gain.
Israel and Lebanon recently initiated groundbreaking negotiations to resolve a long-standing maritime border dispute in the eastern Mediterranean. Resolution of the dispute could lead to developing the potentially lucrative natural gas fields that would benefit both sides.
During its two-year stint on the UN Security Council, Germany voted for dozens of resolutions — many of which smack of anti-Semitism — that singled out Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.
The United States is ratcheting up the threat of sanctions against European companies in an effort to deal a death blow to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
The Austrian Constitutional Court has ruled that Austria’s ban on the wearing of headscarves in public schools violates the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression and therefore is unconstitutional.
The Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU’s top court, has ruled that Hungary violated EU law when it prevented illegal immigrants from seeking asylum. The Hungarian government countered that it will not bow to pressure to jump aboard the EU’s multicultural bandwagon.
Economists are warning that the second coronavirus lockdown has increased the risk of another recession in Europe’s largest economy.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently declared that his decision to convert the Church of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul’s massive sixth-century Byzantine cathedral, into a mosque foreshadows a future pan-Islamic reconquest of Jerusalem.
