At the invitation of the Berlin CDU parliamentary group, the fourth “Political Discussion Circle of Jewish Berliners” took place. The guest of the evening was the Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Ralph Brinkhaus. In September 2018 Brinkhaus had succeeded his predecessor, Volker Kauder, in a move that came as a surprise to outside observers. More participants than had registered took the opportunity to question Mr Brinkhaus on the issues that were troubling them most. Since many social and political problem areas can be traced back to the subject of antisemitism, a discussion soon developed that was at times highly emotional. Alongside Mr Brinkhaus, the hosts, Ms Seibeld and Mr Dregger, also took an intensive and constructive part in it. It became clear how laborious political processes can be, despite the good will of those involved, and how great the expectations of us as citizens are. The many measures already adopted at federal and state level repeatedly come up against limits when it comes to concrete implementation. Above all, the participants called for a “consistent policy” that would implement and enforce free democratic values without compromise, from foreign policy (relations with Israel and Iran) through to domestic policy (including the handling of BDS, integration, UNRWA and the rule of law). We warmly thank the Berlin CDU parliamentary group for this evening, which was important and interesting for us.
