Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, Dec. 5, 2018
Although Germany has developed a reputation as one of Israel’s strongest allies in the European Union, keynote speakers at the fifth Israel Congress recently held in Frankfurt criticized the host country’s recent failings on several fronts.
More than 3,000 people from across Europe attended the Nov. 25 event in one of the continent’s strongest displays of grassroots support for Israel.
Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy Gilad Erdan, the highest-level Israeli official to address the gathering at the Frankfurt Convention Center, struck a conciliatory tone as the grandson of Auschwitz survivors, but he then rebuked Germany for funding nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) hostile to Israel and for clinging to the Iran deal.
