Saxony-Anhalt: At 43.8%, the AfD No Longer Needs the Firewall to Fall — It's Climbing Over It

For the Jews of Germany — and of Europe — the announced program deserves to be read as written: deportations of immigrants, defunding of "anti-German art," and reduced teaching of the Nazi past in schools. That last point is the one that should alarm our community most. The AfD sometimes calls itself a friend of Israel; a party that wants to teach German children less about the Shoah answers the objection all by itself. We judge on actions and programs, not on declarations of convenience.

We judge on actions and programs, not on declarations of convenience.

The congratulations are telling in themselves: Vox in Spain, Chega in Portugal, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Elon Musk ("Well done") — and a calculated silence from Donald Trump, who posted a screenshot of the results without comment, immediately relayed by Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin's emissary. That last detail says it all: in Warsaw, Donald Tusk summed up the Polish reading in one brutal sentence — "only idiots or traitors can rejoice at the triumph of the AfD." A pro-Russian party at the gates of German regional power is also a victory for the axis that arms Israel's enemies.

And this is where the lesson goes beyond Germany. Benjamin Haddad spoke of a "grave moment for Europe"; it's worth recalling that Marine Le Pen leads every poll for the 2027 French presidential election. Saxony-Anhalt reveals a mechanism France would do well to ponder: when governing parties treat the "fears of the population" — the phrase is Merz's own — with contempt or denial, the voter no longer settles for protesting; he hands over power. For the Jews of France, the compass remains the same: neither ritual panic nor naivety. Demand that the mainstream parties finally answer the insecurity and the Islamism that feed these scores — because it's their failure, not just the victory of the extremes, that was on display Sunday night in Saxony-Anhalt.