Politics Weekly: State elections, support for Israel, and emerging parties

Dear Reader,

After taking a few months of parental leave over the summer I’m back and writing this regular newsletter on German politics.

Here are some questions you may have been asking yourself about Germany this week.

Photo by Dmitry Dreyer on Unsplash

How do Germans view the latest round of violence in Israel?

Germany repeatedly emphasises that Israeli security is German “Staatsräson” (reason of state). While this grandiose phrase from the age of absolute monarchies is a peculiar one to apply to modern statecraft, it was first used by Angela Merkel in 2008 and has been repeated regularly since without anyone ever really explaining what it would mean in practice

In a public statement on Sunday, Olaf Scholz said that “Israel’s security is German Staatsräson, that applies in particular in difficult hours like these. And we will act accordingly.”

The rest of his statement gave few clues as to what Germany would do though. Other than a signal of support for Israel to “pursue its attackers” a…