Overview

• At a Potsdam ceremony marking 60 years of diplomatic ties, Ambassador Ron Prosor cautioned that excluding Israeli culture risks undermining mutual trust and urged renewed cultural engagement.
• Brandenburg’s Minister President Dietmar Woidke emphasized a special German duty toward Israel rooted in Holocaust history when reaffirming the countries’ close friendship.
• German public and political figures have intensified criticism of Israel’s Gaza campaign, spotlighting a months-long blockade of humanitarian aid that has only recently been relaxed.
• Diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel were first established in 1965 as part of a broader effort to atone for the Holocaust’s atrocities against Jewish communities.
• Since Hamas’s October 2023 assault on Israel, over 1,200 Israelis have been killed and more than 54,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the ensuing conflict.