CDU shouldn’t campaign with Israel-hater Hallervorden
A senior German CDU politician is criticized for appearing with comedian Dieter Hallervorden, who has made inflammatory anti-Israel statements including accusations of genocide and apartheid.
Sven Schulze, Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt and the CDU’s lead candidate in the state, has appeared on stage four times with Dieter Hallervorden, a 90-year-old comedian and actor who has repeatedly made inflammatory statements about Israel. The speaking tour, titled “Art Needs Freedom,” has already visited Halle and Magdeburg, with events scheduled for Dessau and Naumburg in the coming week, according to Claudio Casula writing in Nius.
According to the local CDU district association, the events are intended to discuss why free stages, free opinions, and open debates are indispensable. Yet Hallervorden has a documented history of exploiting such platforms to attack Israel, Casula argues.
A Pattern of Anti-Israel Statements
During the 2014 Gaza conflict, Hallervorden characterized the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians as “Goliath against David, 10,000 men against one.” He later suggested that Israeli police officers carry revolvers while Palestinian attackers have knives, claiming that Palestinians are simply shot down without prisoners being taken.
In March 2024, Hallervorden published an open letter accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide,” claiming the Israeli military operation had created the “largest children’s cemetery in the world” in Gaza. The following month, he released a three-minute video reciting a poem co-authored with former Left Party politician and songwriter Diether Dehm.
The poem began with the obligatory condemnation of Hamas terror before turning sharply against Israel. It suggested that atrocities usually have histories and that no one is born a terrorist. Regarding German politics, Hallervorden wrote that parties from the Ampel coalition to the AfD pledge loyalty to apartheid and deliver grenades anew, asking only that they be handled delicately.
CDU Bundestag member Gitta Connemann condemned the poem as self-righteous antisemitism dressed as a sentimental piece, calling it revolting. Hallervorden has advocated for boycotts of Israeli goods and stated that Germany must stand on the side of the Palestinians to achieve a two-state solution, apparently unaware that his preferred beneficiaries seek a state in place of rather than alongside Israel.
Holocaust Comparisons and Blood Libel
Hallervorden has speculated about what Israeli minister Ben-Gvir might have been thinking when allegedly ordering drones and stun grenades to be used against a ship loaded with baby food and drinking water. He imagined Ben-Gvir smiling while supposedly firing on ships carrying baby supplies, then drew an explicit comparison: the alleged thinking of the minister sounded like the thinking that led to the Holocaust.
This rhetorical move, Casula contends, serves to erase historical guilt by suggesting that the Jewish state itself wants to commit a crime against humanity, implying that Jews have learned nothing from the Shoah and dare to defend themselves when facing annihilation.
Hallervorden’s accusation that Israel drives out “people like cattle” has apparently not deterred the CDU from associating with him. The entertainer is not a CDU supporter himself, having long been affiliated with the FDP and campaigned for figures ranging from Helmut Schmidt to Sahra Wagenknecht, who shares his views on Israel. He has stated he would not campaign for CDU leader Friedrich Merz, but with Sven Schulze “it’s different.”
Questions About Conservative Principles
The alliance raises uncomfortable questions about whether past CDU chancellors such as Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, or Helmut Kohl would have shared a stage with someone like Hallervorden. Under Angela Merkel, Germany’s UN representative Christoph Heusgen repeatedly made anti-Israel statements and never opposed absurd UN resolutions condemning Israel.
The current CDU leadership under Merz has faced criticism over proposals for weapons embargoes and rhetoric about forced solidarity with Israel. As the party campaigns in state elections, its willingness to platform figures hostile to the Jewish state suggests that Israel may no longer be able to count on the reliability of its traditional German conservative allies.
With information from Nius
