Vortrag von Arye Sharuz Shalicar - 9. SÄCHSISCHER ISRAELFREUNDESTAG 2026

Israel: "Germans have been manipulated for decades" It doesn't matter how hard Israel tries. The point is that Israel exists. "That's the thorn in our side," said Arye Sharuz Shalicar, former spokesman for the Israeli army, on June 20, the eve of the 9th annual Day of Friendship with Israel organized by the Saxon Friends of Israel. Over 500 people accepted the invitation to Löbau. Using three examples from television reports of the past 24 hours, he illustrated how omnipresent Israel is in the media and how negatively it is portrayed. Therefore, one puts one's life in danger if one goes out on the street in Germany with an Israeli flag. This pathological hatred, however, is not a new development. It pains him personally because he has realized that there is no real escape. "My parents (Persian Jews, ed.) raised me secularly, without any connection to Judaism." …But when I came out as Jewish at the age of 13, my life was turned upside down.” People who had been his friends until yesterday no longer shook his hand. Shalicar asked: “Was October 7, 2023, an exception?” No! It was just one in a long line of crises, conflicts, massacres, pogroms, and turbulent times for Jews, times that have existed for millennia. But while ancient peoples have long since disappeared from the face of the earth, “Jews are still here.” Shalicar: “If that isn’t a miracle, what is?” Israel has achieved a great deal in the past two and a half years. But more important than eliminating terrorists is the conquest of territory in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria. That hurts the terrorists, Shalicar is convinced. And yet: “All of Israel’s enemies are still there.” The attack on Iran, in particular, has shown that what the Revolutionary Guard has built up over 47 years cannot simply be destroyed. No one really wants a long war, so they do things halfway. And that's how we ended up where we are today. "In the middle. Sometimes better, sometimes worse." Time will tell. "Were the last few months a waste of time, wasted money, wasted blood, or were they positive?" Time will tell. How things proceed in the Middle East no longer depends on Israel, but primarily on the US and Iran. "Even here, one can argue whether that's good or bad news." The positive aspect is that, for the first time, we have a situation in which Israel is not alone facing a number of enemies. "We have a powerful international partner who is on board with us," Shalicar said optimistically. He urged everyone to see the glass as half full, "otherwise I'll go under." But even if there are positive developments in the coming months or years, at some point there will be another conflict, a crisis, an attack on the Jews and the Jewish state. "Not because of how we behave, but because we exist. Because we breathe, because we live, because we have our own state. That remains a thorn in the side of many people all over the world." (factum-magazin.ch)