German–Israeli Society

The Society’s guiding principle states: “Friends of Israel come together in non-partisan cooperation to work in solidarity with the State of Israel and its people.”[1] In 2024, the nationwide organization was reported to have around 5,500 members, while its partner, the Israeli-German Society, was described as seeking to expand dialogue between the two countries.[1]

A December 2024 signatory list identifies Volker Beck as the Society’s president and Lasse Schauder as federal chairman of its Junges Forum, or Young Forum.[5] Regional leadership is also documented: Stefan Hensel was identified as the local chair of the Society in Hamburg in 2021.[3]

The German–Israeli Society was founded in Bonn on March 21, 1966, following the establishment of German-Israeli diplomatic relations in 1965.[1][1] The Israeli-German Society, subsequently identified as its partner organization, was founded in Tel Aviv in April 1971.[1] Commentary published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs interprets the DIG as a non-partisan project motivated by German responsibility for the Shoah, placing it within postwar civil-society efforts to address that responsibility and Germany’s integration into the international community.[6]

In 1967, the DIG participated in fundraising for Israel alongside the German Coordinating Council of Associations for Christian-Jewish Cooperation, known as the DKR.[2] Special bank accounts were opened for public donations, and the account of the combined fundraising efforts records more than 2.5 million DH raised by mid-July.[2] Heinz Westphal, identified as the DIG’s vice-president, thanked the DKR’s chairmen for their contribution to the campaign.[2]

After a meeting connected with the fundraising effort, the Society presented Israel with a second check for 1.3 million DH.[2] This contribution formed part of the expressions of sympathy and support for Israel documented in the account of 1967.[2]

The Society joined a letter urging the inclusion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism in a United Nations action plan.[7] Its leadership has also participated in German public initiatives against antisemitism: in April 2021, Hamburg appointed local DIG chair Stefan Hensel as its first independent antisemitism commissioner.[3] His three-year term began on July 1, and both the city’s largest Jewish congregation and its smaller Liberal Jewish Community endorsed the appointment.[3] Hensel committed himself to fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism and to promoting recognition of Hamburg’s Jews as modern citizens.[3]

In a statement reproduced in a 2023 annual report, Beck said the DIG had discussed reports alleging connections between Palestinian NGOs and the PFLP with officials in Germany’s federal government and parliament on several occasions.[8] In a separate 2023 statement, he called for stricter controls on German and European Union funding for UNRWA, including explicit conditions against antisemitism and approval of terrorism or violence, together with sanctions for violations.[9] His stated position was: “As long as Germany and the EU are still giving money to UNRWA, this must be done with clear guidelines: no anti-Semitism, no approval of terrorism and violence!”[9]

The DIG awarded its Ernst Cramer Medal to former Israeli Air Force commander Amikam Nurkin and German Air Force commander Ingo Gerhartz at a ceremony near Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.[4] This was the first occasion on which the award went to military personnel, and both commanders praised cooperation between their air forces.[4]

Yoram Erlich, an Israeli resident of Germany and tourism professional involved in the DIG leadership’s decision to confer the medal, regarded the award as a natural recognition of expanding security cooperation.[4] He pointed to air-force exercises in the Arava and joint flights over Jerusalem and Dachau, alongside personal ties and exchange visits involving young people, journalists, military personnel, and politicians.[4] Erlich also described encountering increasing numbers of German military personnel, particularly Luftwaffe members, in Tel Aviv hotels.[4] His examples included sitting beside a German chief of staff traveling to Israel for security talks and meeting German helicopter pilots who said they had purchased an important component from the Israeli Air Force.[4]

The Society also appears among the organizations discussed in Dani Kranz’s academic treatment of contemporary German-Israeli community life and the transmission of Germanness in Israel.[10]

The Society’s Mannheim office was defaced with swastikas and the words “Free Palestine.”[11] The incident entry carries the marker “4/11,” without specifying a year or explaining the date format.[11]

A Danish citizen of Afghan origin was reportedly arrested by Danish law enforcement on July 1, 2025, on suspicion of operating on behalf of Iran’s Qods Force.[12] The reported allegations included photographing institutions and individuals in preparation for possible attacks, with the Society’s Berlin headquarters among the locations photographed.[12]

A further report described the November 2025 arrest in Denmark of an Afghan national suspected of offering weapons for an attack on Jewish targets in Germany.[13] He was allegedly in contact with a Danish national suspected of gathering intelligence on Jewish locations in Berlin for Iranian intelligence, including providing surveillance photographs and videos of targets that included the Society.[13] Separately, German prosecutors reportedly said a Danish national had been tasked in early 2025 with gathering intelligence on Beck and other Jewish targets to help plan alleged attacks in Germany; he and an Afghan national were charged in May 2026 with involvement in attempted murder.[14]

In 2018, the regional German–Israeli Society called for a boycott of a satirical play based on Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf in Constance, Baden-Württemberg.[15] The organizers offered free admission to people wearing swastikas and asked ticket holders to wear a Star of David, which they described as “a sign of solidarity with the victims of Nazi barbarism.”[15] After legal complaints, local prosecutors permitted the performance on the grounds of free-speech protections for artistic performances.[15]

The Society’s advocacy concerning NGO funding and UNRWA has included allegations and policy demands rather than judicial findings: Beck’s statements called for government scrutiny of alleged organizational connections and for conditions on public funding.[8][9]