Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Der Kanzler ist von einer wichtigen Reise zurück. Friedrich Merz war in Jordanien und Israel unterwegs und bemüht sich um ein stabileres Verhältnis zu Jerusalem. Die Tage dort zeigen einen gehäuteten Bundeskanzler. Er setzt auf Ruhe, Verlässlichkeit und sichtbare Nähe zur israelischen Regierung, auch wenn in zentralen Fragen wie dem Umgang mit dem Westjordanland deutliche Differenzen bleiben. Gordon Repinski beschreibt, warum dieser Besuch für Merz ein Wendepunkt sein kann und welche Signale er vor dem Treffen im E3-Format mit Emmanuel Macron und Keir Starmer senden wollte . Im 200-Sekunden-Interview spricht Siemtje Möller, Vizechefin der SPD Bundestagsfraktion, über die Erwartungen an das Treffen in London. Sie erklärt, wie Europa eine gemeinsame Position entwickeln kann, obwohl die eigentliche Verhandlungsmacht derzeit bei Washington und Moskau liegt. Im Zentrum steht die Frage, welchen Beitrag Deutschland leisten kann, wenn es um Sicherheitsgarantien, militärische Unterstützung und den Wiederaufbau der Ukraine geht. Danach geht der Blick nach Brüssel. Rasmus Buchsteiner begleitet die Sitzung der Innenminister, bei der die europäische Asylreform und der Solidaritätsmechanismus verhandelt werden. Zum Schluss geht’s um den Parteitag des BSW in Magdeburg. Sahra Wagenknecht positioniert sich klar gegenüber einigen Landesverbänden und kündigt eine inhaltliche Schärfung an, während die Partei sich auf einen neuen Namen vorbereitet. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski. Legal Notice (Belgium) POLITICO SRL Forme sociale: Société à Responsabilité Limitée Siège social: Rue De La Loi 62, 1040 Bruxelles Numéro d’entreprise: 0526.900.436 RPM Bruxelles info@politico.eu www.politico.eu

The European Broadcasting Union cleared Israel to take part in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, brushing aside demands for its exclusion and sparking an unprecedented backlash. “A large majority of Members agreed that there was no need for a further vote on participation and that the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 should proceed as planned, with the additional safeguards in place,” the EBU said in a statement Thursday. Following the decision, broadcasters in Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia said they disagreed with the EBU and announced they would not participate in the 70th-anniversary Eurovision in Vienna because Israel was allowed to take part. The boycotting countries said their decision was based on Israel’s war in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis, as they launched a historic boycott that plunges Eurovision into its deepest-ever crisis. “Culture unites, but not at any price,” Taco Zimmerman, general director of Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, said Thursday. “Universal values such as humanity and press freedom have been seriously compromised, and for us, these values are non-negotiable.” On the other side of the debate, Germany had warned it could pull out of the contest if Israel was not allowed to take part. Before the voting took place, Golan Yochpaz, a senior Israeli TV executive, said the meeting was “the attempt to remove KAN [Israeli national broadcasters] from the contest,” which “can only be understood as a cultural boycott.” Ireland’s public broadcaster RTÉ said it “feels that Ireland’s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.” Spanish radio and television broadcaster RTVE said it had lost trust in Eurovision. RTVE President José Pablo López said that “what happened at the EBU Assembly confirms that Eurovision is not a song contest but a festival dominated by geopolitical interests and fractured.” The EBU in Geneva also agreed on measures to “curb disproportionate third-party influence, including government-backed campaigns,” and limited the number of public votes to 10 “per payment method.” RTVE called the change “insufficient.” Controversy earlier this year prompted the changes, when several European broadcasters alleged that the Israeli government had interfered in the voting — after Israel received the largest number of public votes during the final. The EBU has been in talks with its members about Israel’s participation since the issue was raised at a June meeting of national broadcasters in London. Eurovision is run by the EBU, an alliance of public service media with 113 members in 56 countries. The contest has long proclaimed that it is “non-political,” but in 2022, the EBU banned Russia from the competition following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people in Israel, a large majority of whom were civilians, and taking 251 hostages. The attack prompted a major Israeli military offensive in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them civilians, displaced 90 percent of Gaza’s population and destroyed wide areas. The ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump in October 2025 led to the release of the remaining 20 Israeli hostages. Shawn Pogatchnik contributed to this report.

The U.N. Security Council adopted a U.S. resolution to authorize an international stabilization force for Gaza and back the Trump administration’s peace plan on Monday, a significant early step toward rebuilding the destroyed enclave. The body’s support was a significant diplomatic win for the Trump administration and its efforts to stabilize Gaza. Many of the countries the U.S. has hoped will contribute troops and funds to the project indicated to Washington that they would not do so absent the U.N.’s backing. “This will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the History of the United Nations,” President Donald Trump said on Truth Social, adding that the names of the members of a board to oversee the effort, which he named the Board of Peace, will be announced in the coming weeks, as well as “many more exciting announcements.” Thirteen members of the Security Council voted for the measure, while both China and Russia abstained. The council’s five permanent members, including the U.S., China, Russia, the U.K. and France all have veto power. While Monday’s vote is an important milestone, many challenges lay ahead to fielding a force to help move Gaza beyond the initial fragile transitional phase Gaza is in now. Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey have all expressed interest in providing troops, though Israel is opposed to Turkish and Pakistani troops. Deep disagreements also remain about what role the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, will play in the Gaza Strip’s future. While the Trump peace plan calls to disarm Hamas and a government without the militant group, Hamas has reestablished control of Gaza and its security forces are currently policing it. The Trump administration is also concerned the Gaza peace deal between Israel and Hamas could break down because of the challenges of implementing many of its core provisions, as POLITICO has reported. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal has been in effect since last month and the Trump administration has stood up a Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel to monitor the effort. Key details such as who will staff the Board of Peace as well as make up and contribute to the force remain under negotiation. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday. The Gulf state is expected to be a key provider of funds to the reconstruction effort and the pair are expected to discuss the situation in Gaza. The Trump administration has lobbied Riyadh hard to move toward normalizing ties with Israel now that the war is over. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has made clear it cannot go ahead with the process absent a clear path to an independent Palestinian state. The Trump peace plan envisions “a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” only after Gaza redevelopment advances and the Palestinian Authority reforms itself.

Ami Ayalon was one of Israel’s legendary gatekeepers — intelligence chiefs who’ve shouldered the daunting responsibility for the country’s security since the state’s founding, defending it against the odds from hostile Arab neighbors and militant Palestinian groups. And he’s pessimistic about the prospects for Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Ayalon became head of the Shin Bet security service after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, having turned the job down just a few months before. He’s credited with reviving a then-demoralized agency and modernizing it. Under his leadership, Shabak — as Israelis call the security service by its acronym — had a high success rate in preventing militant attacks. In the 2012 documentary “The Gatekeepers,” Ayalon explained that much of that success was down to close coordination with counterparts in the Palestinian Authority. “We’re not your agents,” they told him. “We only do it because our people believe at the end of the day, we’ll have a state beside Israel.” That background is important to understand why he’s gloomy about the prospects of Trump’s plan, which “has more holes than Swiss cheese,” he told POLITICO. The biggest hole not filled is a clear commitment to a two-state solution — the only path to a negotiated settlement, as far as Ayalon sees it. Lack of a sure political horizon for a Palestinian state will mean the withholding of the kind of cooperation he was able to secure from the Palestinian Authority, he explains. Peace will prove elusive. Without Palestinians directly running Gaza in the meantime, as envisaged in the French-Saudi and Egyptian initiatives, the chances of Hamas disarming are negligible, he believes. That’s also the position of Palestinian factions, including the Palestinian Authority. The future makeup of Gaza’s interim postwar government has been a sticking point in the talks about the Trump plan. Israel has insisted that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority should have any role in running postwar Gaza. But Muslim countries and Palestinian leaders want the Palestinian Authority to manage civilian affairs in the enclave. Palestinian Authority officials warn that excluding Hamas totally risks the militant group wrecking the interim administration.  Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has embraced the Gaza peace plan, last month called on the international community to “stop the Israeli government’s undermining of the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution.” He has also affirmed the readiness of institutions within the authority to assume administrative responsibility for Gaza and to link it with the West Bank, with Arab and international support and coordination. ‘BETTER IDEAS’ TO COUNTER HAMAS IDEOLOGY For the past 20 years since leaving Shabak, Ayalon has been a prominent advocate for the two-state solution. He argues this with patriotism and the long-term security of Israel in mind, as well as from a position of authority based on his experience as a former Shabak boss. Ayalon’s watched the war in Gaza with rising exasperation. It was a just war at the start, he says. But he mocks the whole idea that peace will follow, and Israel will be safe, once Hamas is vanquished militarily. Ayalon’s watched the war in Gaza with rising exasperation. | Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images “We have to ask ourselves: What is Hamas all about? It is a radical Muslim organization with a military wing.” Since Hamas is a combination of an ideology and a military force, the idea of total victory is nonsense, he thinks. “And yes, you can defeat the military wing on the battlefield — but you cannot defeat its ideology with the use of military power,” he adds. You need “better ideas” in order to defeat an ideology, he believes. The two-state solution — that is, an independent, sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel — is the better idea to counter Hamas. His greatest worry is that the carnage, trauma and brutality of the war will fuel Hamas recruitment. “When a child, a teenager, loses his family, what will he do? He will take up a knife, a gun, and kill an Israeli, a Jew.” He also says the war will inevitably be exploited by global jihadi organizations — such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State group — to radicalize, inspire and encourage attacks around the world. OVERCOMING PUBLIC SKEPTICISM Ayalon’s not an outlier among other Israeli gatekeepers in advocating strongly for a two-state solution. Many of them, including Ayalon’s predecessor as head of Shabak, Yaakov Peri, supported the initial stages of the war, arguing Israel had to defend itself after the murderous rampage across southern Israel two years ago by Hamas and allied militant groups. But they became fierce critics when the military campaign in the Palestinian enclave was prolonged, the death tally rose and the enclave was razed. And they railed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not developing a serious plan to follow up. For Peri, a two-state solution is the only way to a negotiated settlement. And without it, the very existence of the state of Israel will always be in peril. Peri told POLITICO last year, “Israel could survive a civil war, for example over a withdrawal of settlements from the West Bank; but can’t endure long term without a deal with the Palestinians.” The position of Ayalon and Peri, and other stalwarts of Israel’s defense and intelligence establishment, however, is at odds not only with Netanyahu’s forever wars, but Israeli public opinion as well. In 2012, 61 percent of Israelis supported a two-state solution. But for the past decade and more, Israelis have lost faith in the very idea. In a Gallup poll published this past September, only 27 percent of Israelis backed a two-state solution, with 63 percent opposed — consistent with other surveys since 2023. Palestinians are equally skeptical. The two-state solution also receives little support in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Only 1 in 3 adults support a two-state solution, while 55 percent oppose it. That doesn’t deter Ayalon. Public skepticism can be overcome, he says, noting that most Israelis were suspicious of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty signed by Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin in 1979. The Egyptian and Israeli leaders of the time courted great risks to ink an agreement. “We need great gestures now,” he says. “We need Arab leaders to come to Jerusalem and to speak to the Israeli people. And then we shall see beginning of change … on both sides — among the Palestinians and Israelis,” he concludes. So while he’s critical of the Gaza plan, he does see a glimmer of hope. “It is a first step,” he says, “on a long journey of a thousand miles, as the Chinese say.”

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Von den Bundesländern bis zur COP30 in Brasilien: Der Kanzler reist, verhandelt und kämpft um Vertrauen in die Wirtschaft. Im Gespräch mit Rasmus Buchsteiner geht es um steigende Krankenkassenbeiträge, drohenden Stellenabbau, den geplanten Stahl-Gipfel und die Frage, ob aus den vielen Runden endlich greifbare Ergebnisse werden. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview erklärt Franziska Hoppermann, Vorsitzende der Enquete-Kommission zur Corona-Aufarbeitung, wie die Arbeit des Bundestags Gerechtigkeit und Versöhnung schaffen soll. Sie spricht über die Rolle von Jens Spahn, wo die Corona-Kritiker bleiben und erste Lehren aus den Anhörungen. Und: Hans von der Burchard analysiert das erste Telefonat seit längerer Zeit zwischen Friedrich Merz und Benjamin Netanjahu. Es geht um humanitäre Hilfe für Gaza, diplomatische Spannungen – und darum, ob Deutschland wieder Einfluss im Nahost-Friedensprozess gewinnt. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski.

PARIS — The banks of the Seine were still cloaked in early morning darkness when a security guard at the Paris Holocaust Museum, seated just a stone’s throw from the Notre Dame Cathedral, noticed a suspicious scene. Two men in dark clothes were spraying red paint across the Wall of the Righteous — a stone monument inscribed with the names of those who saved Jews in France during World War II. As the guard gave chase, a third man emerged from the shadows of a nearby building to film the night’s work: 35 red-painted handprints, splashed across the 25-meter wall. The attack, which took place in May of last year, was not an isolated act of hate. Police quickly identified and arrested three Bulgarian suspects whose trial begins in Paris on Wednesday — a case that investigators and intelligence officials say offers a rare window into Russia’s escalating campaign to destabilize France through covert influence and psychological operations. The vandalism of the Holocaust memorial was one of several symbolic assaults to shake the country over the past two years — featuring pig heads dropped at mosques, Stars of David sprayed on buildings, coffins left next to the Eiffel Tower— each seemingly designed to inflame tensions between France’s Jewish and Muslim communities or to erode French support for Ukraine ahead of a pivotal 2027 presidential election. They point to how France has become a hot spot in Russia’s hybrid war against Europe, as Moscow seeks to undermine one of Kyiv’s most powerful backers by aggravating its political and social tensions. Analysts and officials say France presents both a prime target and a weak flank — a nation with global weight but domestic vulnerabilities that make it especially susceptible to manipulation. “This reflects a geopolitical reality: Russia considers France to be a serious adversary, it’s the only nuclear power in the EU, and the president of the Republic is quite vocal on support for Ukraine, considering scenarios such as the deployment of French soldiers to Odesa,” said Kevin Limonier, a professor and deputy director at the GEODE geopolitical research center in Paris, where his team has mapped out Russia’s hybrid war operations in Europe. “In France, we are a little further away from the eastern flank and we don’t have the same level of prevention as the countries from the former Soviet Union,” said Natalia Pouzyreff, a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party who co-authored a report on foreign interference earlier this year.  “The population is more receptive to this kind of rhetoric.”  RED HANDED French authorities have accused four men of orchestrating the defacement of the Holocaust memorial. The three allegedly on the scene, Mircho Angelov, Georgi Filipov and Kiril Milushev, fled Paris that same morning by bus to Brussels, then boarded a flight to Sofia.  Filipov and Milushev were later arrested by Bulgarian authorities and extradited to France. A fourth man, Nikolay Ivanov, suspected of financing the operation, was arrested in Croatia. Angelov remains at large. The men stand accused of conspiring to deface the monument, with the aggravating circumstance of acting on antisemitic motives. French investigators also suspect they may have acted, knowingly or not, as Russian agents. The operation could “correspond to an attempt to destabilize France orchestrated by the Russian intelligence services,” according to an assessment by the domestic intelligence agency DGSI cited in a note from the prosecutor’s office.  French authorities have accused four men of orchestrating the defacement of the Holocaust memorial. | Dimitar Dilkoff/Getty Images The same assessment links the act to “a broader strategy” aimed at “dividing French public opinion or fueling internal tensions by using ‘proxies’, meaning individuals who are not working for those services but are paid by them for ad hoc tasks via intermediaries.” During preliminary hearings, Filipov and Milushev did not deny being present but pointed to Angelov as the main orchestrator. The Paris raid wasn’t the first time members of the group had met: Angelov, Ivanov and Milushev are all from Blagoevgrad, a town in southwestern Bulgaria close to the border with North Macedonia. Contacted by POLITICO, Milushev’s lawyer Camille Di Tella said her client, a longtime casual acquaintance of Angelov, had only filmed the tagging without actively participating in the vandalism and “was not aware of what he was really meant to do” when he agreed on the trip. Martin Vettes, a lawyer for Filipov, declined to comment on the case ahead of the trial.  Vladimir Ivanov, a lawyer for Nikolay Ivanov, said his client only paid for hotel nights and bus tickets as a service to Angelov. He strongly denied his client had antisemitic motives or was aware of any Russian connection. POLITICO was unable to reach Angelov for comment. The DGSI declined to comment for this story.   Angelov’s Facebook feed, identified by POLITICO, includes selfies from around Europe, from Greek beaches to the Swiss Alps. Pictures of him show large tattoos covering his chest, upper arms and legs, featuring neo-Nazi symbols including the numbers 14 and 88 and a black Totenkopf, the emblem of a prominent SS division.  On May 12, two days before the attack on the memorial, Angelov posted a picture of himself in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral wearing a blue T-shirt and ripped jeans that partly concealed his tattoos. During his brief stop in Brussels he shared another picture taken in front of a glass building, followed by a winking emoji. The red handprints painted on the memorial are a symbol used by some pro-Palestinian activists to denounce the war in Gaza. But they are also seen by Jewish groups and scholars as a reference to the killing of two Israeli soldiers during the second Intifada in the 2000s, and a call for antisemitic violence.  The attack coincided with the anniversary of the first mass arrest of Jews in France under the Nazi occupation, drawing condemnation across France’s political spectrum. That evening, museum staff and local organizations held an impromptu vigil outside the site. “In a climate of rising antisemitism, we are shocked by this cowardly and heinous act,” Jacques Fredj, the memorial director, posted on social media. Privately, museum employees were hesitant to attribute the attack to pro-Palestinian groups. “We didn’t see the logic of it coming from activists,” said one of them, who declined to speak on the record given the sensitivity of the subject.  The Intifada reference felt old and out of touch, the museum employee said. The attacks also felt similar to a 2023 incident in which Stars of David were tagged across the French capital in an operation French prosecutors described as possible foreign interference.  The Paris prosecutor’s office also cited a report by Viginum, France’s national agency monitoring online disinformation, that found news stories about the red handprints were amplified by “thousands of fake accounts on Twitter” linked to the Russian Recent Reliable News/Doppelgänger network — a group already implicated in spreading reports about the Stars of David. FOREIGN INTERFERENCE The trial opening Wednesday is just one of nine cases involving attacks on religious communities or high-profile French monuments under investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office since late 2023.  The most recent is from Sept. 9, when Najat Benali, rector of the Javel mosque in southeastern Paris, was woken by a call from worshippers attending the early morning prayer. They had been shocked to find a pig head drenched in blood at the mosque’s entrance.  The vandalism of the Holocaust memorial was one of several symbolic assaults to shake the country over the past two years. | Antonin Utz/Getty Images Benali rushed to the scene. “It was still dark, I got scared,” she said. She alerted local officials and learned that eight other mosques had been targeted. Prosecutors quickly traced the act to a group of Serbian nationals after a Normandy pig farmer flagged a suspicious bulk purchase. The pig heads were dropped “by foreign nationals who immediately left [French] soil, in a manifest attempt to cause unrest within the nation,” said a note from the Paris prosecutor’s office dated mid-September. Later that month, Serbia announced the arrest of 11 of its citizens related to the incident.  Serbian authorities said the group is also suspected of throwing green paint on Paris synagogues and a well-known Paris falafel restaurant situated in the capital’s old Jewish neighborhood.  Allegations of foreign interference do little to alleviate the distress felt by the Muslim community, said Bassirou Camara, head of Addam, a nonprofit organization keeping track of anti-Muslim attacks.  “It doesn’t diminish the feeling of fear and disgust,” Camara said. “Because we know they are exploiting a crack that already exists.” France’s deep social, economic, cultural, religious and political divisions offer fertile ground for the Kremlin’s interference, several policymakers, academics and military officers told POLITICO. Unlike Russia’s neighbors such as Estonia or Lithuania, France is also unused to being the subject of Russian propaganda. Even though it’s a NATO member, the country historically saw itself as an independent ally of the U.S. and before the invasion of Ukraine kept open channels with the Kremlin. “Before, the Russians didn’t want to upset France because it had a kind of non-aligned role,” said a high-ranking French military officer, who was granted anonymity to talk candidly about a sensitive topic. “Now, they think they need to fracture our society and show the French that Emmanuel Macron is leading them down the wrong path.”   Large segments of the French political spectrum are also historically friendly to Russia. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, long accused of cozying up to Vladimir Putin, has sought to distance herself from the Russian president since he launched Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon is a fierce critic of NATO.  “There is an ambiguous ground in France, with a primitive anti-Americanism that sometimes swings into pro-Russian sentiment as a mirror effect,” the military officer explained. “We are paying for our historical position on Russia; we have always allowed a certain amount of doubt to linger, and the French have been fed on that.”  Stoking tensions in France requires little effort in a society already on edge. “The Russian intelligence sphere understands the cleavages in society,” said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow and security expert at the German Marshall Fund think tank. It has “this very particular awareness and desire to instrumentalize highly painful domestic political issues and opportunism to tap those pain points at the right moment of political salience.”  One major flashpoint is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. France is home to the EU’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations — roughly 5 million and 450,000 people, respectively. “French society, with its Jewish and Muslim minorities, is the perfect breeding ground for provocation,” said a Paris-based European diplomat.   On the day the pig heads were dropped, local leaders denounced a rise in violence against Muslims.  France is home to the EU’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations — roughly 5 million and 450,000 people, respectively. | Geoffrey Van Der Hasselt/Getty Images “These clearly coordinated acts mark a new and sad step up in the rise of anti-Muslim hatred, and aim to divide our national community,” Chems-eddine Hafiz, rector of Paris Great Mosque, said in a statement.  Figures from the left were quick to blame “a toxic climate … fueled by the stigmatizing rhetoric of certain politicians,” pointing their fingers at the country’s far-right leaders. EASTERN EXAMPLES Several experts said they expect Russia to ramp up operations ahead of the 2027 French election, when Le Pen’s National Rally — a party far less sympathetic to Ukraine’s plight than Macron — may have its best shot yet at taking the presidency.  In the meantime, French officials have taken note of the spate of attacks. In May the government announced a new policy regarding Russian cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, promising to call out foreign governments in an effort to raise awareness. The country has also beefed up its legal arsenal. Last year, lawmakers toughened penalties for violence “committed at the behest of a foreign power.”  French authorities are reaching out to countries such as Estonia, Poland, Finland and Sweden to better understand the Russian psyche, several French officials told POLITICO.  France has valuable lessons to learn from frontline nations, many of which spent decades under Soviet control, the officials said. These include fostering media literacy and raising awareness of the threat of disinformation instead of focusing on countering fake news and spreading counternarratives. The new approach may already be starting to bear fruit. The French public is becoming more savvy at spotting foreign interference, said Pouzyreff, the Renaissance party lawmaker, referring to the pig heads episode.  “After having reported one, two, three attempts at interference, by the fourth the public was waiting for more information and [the controversy] deflated much more quickly,” she said. 

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor and a foreign affairs columnist at POLITICO Europe. When U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his 20-point Gaza peace plan, diplomats and commentators noted echoes of another deal former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had a hand in — the Good Friday Agreement. It was this landmark document, signed in 1998, that started the process that would end three decades of sectarian strife in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles. The similarities between the two immediately struck academic David Mitchell, a Trinity College professor of reconciliation and peace studies. Several phrases appeared to be “lifted from the Good Friday Agreement — or at least inspired by it,” he told POLITICO, particularly those about a “process of demilitarization,” the “decommissioning” of weapons and “placing weapons permanently beyond use.” According to Mitchell, “the word ‘decommissioning’ wasn’t much in use until the Good Friday Agreement; people hadn’t really heard it before. I guess [it] was to try to take the sting out of disarmament, and maybe make it look less like a defeat for the paramilitaries.” No doubt this approach helped the Irish Republican Army’s pro-agreement camp eventually sell the landmark deal to the movement’s reluctant hard men. Nonetheless, it took nearly nine years to get Northern Ireland’s IRA to fully disarm and bring the conflict, which saw around 3,500 killed and 50,000 injured, to an end. So how long before Hamas disarms? The fact that the Good Friday Agreement — some of its core assumptions and the overall design of its confidence-building steps — served as a model for Gaza is hardly surprising. After all, Trump tapped Blair to help oversee postwar Gaza’s governance. The former prime minister also worked on the plan during the last six months of the previous U.S. administration, and subsequently with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff when it was revived by the current administration. And as it was in Northern Ireland, disarmament is shaping up to be the Gaza plan’s most likely stumbling stone, particularly as it moves from its fairly simple transactional first phase of hostage–prisoner swaps and the cessation of hostilities to its second phase, which will see Hamas and allied Palestinian militant groups in the enclave lay down their arms. Phase three — if we ever get there — envisions the reconstruction of civil governance and the rebuilding of Gaza, which will of course take years. But so too will disarmament — if what unfolded in Northern Ireland is a guide. On Tuesday, after Hamas was accused of launching an attack on Israeli forces in the Rafah area, an impatient Trump warned the group to disarm or face a “FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!” end. But so far, the only disarmament that has taken place involves a family-based clan in Khan Yunis handing over its weapons to Hamas, as the militant group began a campaign of violence against clan-based opponents and Gazans it claims collaborated with Israel during the war. The main lesson from the Northern Ireland peace process, which came close to unraveling several times over disarmament, is that even with the strongest will in the world, it’s going to take considerable time — something that will give the deal’s opponents, whether Israeli or Palestinian, plenty of opportunity to throw a spanner in the works. The Good Friday Agreement was among Blair’s finest moments, and one he proudly argues remains an example to the world: “You had leaders who were prepared even at personal political risk to face down the recalcitrant elements in their own parties and move forwards,” he said on the 25th anniversary of its signing. “That’s why it’s a lesson for peace processes everywhere.” And moving forward, Blair will no doubt remind us that patience will be vital — something U.S. Vice President JD Vance already hinted at during his remarks in Israel on Tuesday. While echoing Trump and warning that “if Hamas does not co-operate, it will be obliterated,” Vance also stressed it would take “a very, very long time” to implement the 20-point plan and declined to set a deadline or timetable for Hamas to disarm. Drawing further parallels, Mitchell observed that after the Good Friday Agreement was signed, “decommissioning was immediately the most important issue.” It “dominated the whole peace process until 2007 and took on massive symbolic importance. There was some devolution and power-sharing, but it kept collapsing because Unionists didn’t have confidence [in] the IRA’s seriousness about disarmament,” he said. Hamas claims it has redeployed its gunmen only to ensure the enclave doesn’t plunge into anarchy. | Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images “As a militant group, your weapons are absolutely essential to your identity, which I assume is the case with Hamas. So, you don’t want to give them up lightly,” he added. Indeed, not. Once the ceasefire took effect, Hamas wasted no time, openly reappearing in areas the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had just vacated and reasserting control over a chunk of the enclave. One Hamas officer told Qatar’s Al-Araby TV that redeployed gunmen would confiscate weapons from “fugitives” — a catch-all term for Palestinians opposing the group. And not long after, a video posted on Gaza-based social media networks showed an armed masked man shooting a Palestinian in the leg — a punishment often used by the militants against suspected collaborators. There have been more such shootings and executions since. Hamas claims it has redeployed its gunmen only to ensure the enclave doesn’t plunge into anarchy. But when it comes to eventual disarmament, it has only issued opaque statements, with a senior Hamas official telling Reuters earlier this week that he couldn’t commit to the group’s disarming. Asked if Hamas would lay down its arms, a member of the group’s politburo, Mohammed Nazzal, said: “I can’t answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you’re talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?” He has a point: When it comes to the mechanics of decommissioning weapons, nothing is in place yet; there’s no one to receive them or monitor their destruction. Hamas is hardly going to hand over its arms to the IDF — much as the IRA didn’t hand theirs to the British army or the province’s police force, then known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary — as it would certainly get pushback from the hard men. Instead, Mitchell explained, it was two churchmen, a Methodist and a Catholic, who monitored the IRA destroying its weapons caches. “Basically, they were driven around the countryside inspecting the destruction of the weapons. It was all very secretive. Then they came back to the media and said: ‘We have seen the full and complete disarmament of the IRA.” Those arsenals were much smaller, though, and it’s difficult to imagine the likes of Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir or Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich agreeing to such a stealthy process, taking the word of a pair of independent monitors that weapons have been placed beyond use. They will want total evidence and will be keen to rub Hamas’ nose in defeat. The most obvious solution here is for Hamas to hand its weapons over to an international stabilization force, which Vance said is still in the early stages of planning. He did not, however, directly link the actual mechanics of Hamas’ disarmament with the deployment of a stabilization force. That begs the question of Hamas’ intentions — including whether there’s a single chain of command or if splits will emerge within the militant group. “Is Hamas going to give up the weapons? Are they going to give up power? Even in recent days, we’ve seen that militants in Gaza aren’t entirely a monolith. To what extent does Hamas have operational control over all these elements?” asked Ned Price, a former U.S. diplomat who had worked with Blair and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the peace plan during the previous administration. For Mitchell, there’s one huge difference between the Good Friday Agreement and the Gaza plan: The former had the carrot of a political settlement, whereas Trump’s plan has no clear path to a two-state solution. “Northern Ireland’s peace process was linked with political progress, whereas in this agreement, there’s no linkage,” he said. That might prove to be the fatal flaw.

Listen on * Spotify * Apple Music * Amazon Music Neue Regierungserklärung, alte Herausforderungen: Friedrich Merz nutzt seinen Auftritt im Bundestag, um außenpolitisch Flagge zu zeigen, von der Ukraine über Verteidigung bis Bürokratieabbau. Hans von der Burchard analysiert, welche Botschaften der Kanzler vor dem EU-Gipfel kommende Woche in Brüssel richtet. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview spricht Ron Prosor, Israels Botschafter in Deutschland, über die fragile Waffenruhe mit der Hamas, über die Hoffnung auf einen neuen Friedensprozess und über die Rolle Deutschlands an Israels Seite. Innenpolitisch bröckelt der Konsens: In der CDU wird die Brandmauer zur AfD teils infrage gestellt. Pauline von Pezold erklärt, warum der Druck vor den Landtagswahlen steigt, welche Strategen an Öffnungen denken und wie die AfD das als Bestätigung feiert Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: @gordon.repinski | X: @GordonRepinski.

Greta Thunberg accused Israeli soldiers of physically assaulting her after she was detained on a boat approaching Gaza earlier this month. The Swedish activist was with the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The passengers, including Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan, were intercepted by Israeli authorities, arrested and detained. “They hit and kicked me,” Thunberg told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, adding that the soldiers “threw an Israeli flag over me” to humiliate her. “Then they ripped my frog hat off, threw it on the ground, stomped and kicked it and kind of had a tantrum,” she said. Thunberg alleged her hands were cable-tied and soldiers lined up to take selfies with her as her belongings were slowly cut up with knives. At one point, far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir appeared before the group of activists and shouted, “You are terrorists. You want to kill Jewish babies,” Thunberg said. “There’s a lot I don’t remember,” she added. “So much happening at once. You’re in a state of shock.” During their captivity, Thunberg claimed jail guards frequently threatened to “gas” the activists in their cells. Thunberg added she was isolated in her own cell, which was infested with insects. The Israel Defense Forces did not respond to multiple requests for comment. During Thunberg’s captivity, the Israeli foreign ministry called allegations it had mistreated her and the other activists “brazen lies.” “Greta also did not complain to the Israeli authorities about any of these ludicrous and baseless allegations — because they never occurred,” the ministry said in a statement on Oct. 5. Swedish embassy officials took days to meet with the Swedes in Israeli captivity, Thunberg said, and showed little interest in their mistreatment. The passengers, including Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan, were intercepted by Israeli authorities, arrested and detained. | Thierry Nectoux/Getty Images Asked about Thunberg’s claims, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told Aftonbladet the activists had “exposed themselves to a great risk” by participating in the flotilla mission. Thunberg was released and deported after five days. She said her bag was returned to her with “whore” and other profanities scribbled on it.

The U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is looking increasingly fragile after Israel shot several people on Tuesday and U.S. President Donald Trump raised the prospect of further violence. Speaking at the White House, Trump said of the Palestinian militant group: “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly, and perhaps violently.” Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli troops shot several people who they accused of violating the ceasefire agreement by crossing the ‘yellow line’ behind which Israeli troops are stationed. Local authorities said six were killed. There is also tension over the return of the bodies of people that Hamas took hostage on Oct. 7, 2024, with Israel accusing the militant group of being too slow to return the remainder. Four bodies out of the estimated 28 were handed over on Monday. Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give Hamas an ultimatum on their return. “If you do not immediately return all the bodies of our fallen and continue to delay, we will immediately halt all aid supplies entering the Strip,” Ben-Gvir said on Telegram. The truce agreement called for the immediate handover of all bodies but acknowledged the destruction of the enclave might make some difficult to locate.