On 13 February we met Sven-Christian Kindler, member of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group in the Bundestag. In many areas our perceptions and forecasts of the challenges facing our society now and in future coincide closely. We agreed, for example, that in combating Israel-related antisemitism it is important to differentiate precisely in how one deals with antisemitic organisations such as the anti-Israeli boycott campaign BDS. The point is not to legitimise organisations that cross the line from differentiated criticism of Israeli government policy into hatred of Israel. Such organisations must not be official cooperation partners at publicly funded or tax-subsidised events.
Mr Kindler praised the work of the WerteInitiative and regards it as a positive and important sign of Jewish life and of civil-society political work in Germany. Further mutual exchange has been agreed.
