Today the question is whether there is currently a "solution" to the Middle East conflict at all, to the new spontaneous mood in the Catholic Church and the cautious return to a familiar life.
The new power of the anti-Semites
At the weekend, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced a crackdown on anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also condemned the anti-Semitic demonstrations.
Israeli flags were burned in various German cities last week.
Taking action and indicting, both are right and necessary.
How dramatic the situation actually is and how complicated it can be to react to it is shown by the more hidden events: The Westphalian city of Hagen, as it became known nationwide over the weekend, hoisted the Israeli flag in front of the town hall on Wednesday had been taken to commemorate a pleasant historical date - as a precaution, "for de-escalation," so it was said.
Goodwill may have been the driving force here, but acting ahead only confirms how much power anti-Semites have again.
According to Demos: Seehofer wants "full toughness of the rule of law" against anti-Semitism
Can the Middle East conflict really be "resolved"?
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A Palestinian photographer stands in front of burning tires during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the city of Nablus
Photo: Oday Daibes / dpa
US President Joe Biden has now intervened in the Middle East conflict itself. He is said to have "expressed his strong commitment to a two-state solution." The Israeli historian Tom Segev expressed himself pessimistically in the "Heute-Journal" last night. He sees a chain "from war to war", here not only representatives of two different identities are fighting each other, here there is a whole "mosaic of identities". If one follows this thought, the desire for a "solution" to the Middle East conflict - because it has been said for decades that this conflict must be "resolved" - is naive. Sometimes it is the wishes that are too big, as good and just as they may be, that prevent a conflict from settling down. Which smaller goals could be achieved first - to ask yourself this question,may seem despondent given the terrible scenes. But it could have the bigger effect right now.
Gregor Gysi on the Middle East conflict: "Those who light Israeli flags are not left"
Spontaneous mood in the Catholic Church
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Parish vicar blesses couple at Catholic service
Photo: Felix Hörhager / dpa
In those distant times, when the Greens still saw themselves as a protest party and one thing definitely did not want to move into the Chancellery, when the authoritarian was still so widespread in thought and action that the abolition of the authoritarian was more talked about than a longing for it When armament and war were still big issues, stickers and posters had a slogan from the so-called Spontis: "Imagine it's war and nobody goes."
In the Catholic Church, an institution that is committed to the human, but in which the authoritarian and regular at the top has such power that what it is actually about - the human - too often does not have its right comes, a mentality is currently spreading at the grassroots level that corresponds to the statement on the Sponti sticker: Imagine there is a rule and nobody adheres to it.
The Vatican forbids the blessing of same-sex couples - but last week well over a hundred Catholic clergy in Germany did just that. The preaching ban for women applies - today the Catholic women's community deliberately violates it and lets twelve women preach nationwide in masses.
The Catholic Church sees itself as a timeless institution.
This is where it differs from the Protestant Church, which arose in a specific political situation: in the conflict between Martin Luther and the Pope, who was the greatest power in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period.
This is how the Evangelical Church draws its self-image to this day, it reacts to political questions, interferes, and absorbs the spirit of the times.
This has advantages and disadvantages.
The leadership of the Catholic Church in the Vatican should not regard the blessing of same-sex couples and sermons by women as manifestations of the zeitgeist.
Both would have been correct in earlier times.
Catholic clergy bless homosexual couples - and spark debate
The green base makes it uncomfortable for the top
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Greens federal chairman Baerbock
Photo: Michael Kappeler / picture alliance / dpa
In politics, something new is always hidden behind what is apparently always the same. If the federal executive of the Greens meets today and then their federal chairman Annalena Baerbock holds a press conference, then that is part of the routine in Berlin, but the party this week is different from last week and next week will be different from this week, so much is happening here right now. Two years ago it was still unthinkable that a candidate for Chancellor would be possible for the Greens, then it looked like Robert Habeck would dare, then Annalena Baerbock prevailed, the party scored with an amazing unity, now it is becoming more restless again. My colleagues Markus Feldenkirchen, Kevin Hagen and Jonas Schaible report how the base with a record number of 3000 amendments tightened the climate,Rent and migration policy demands. Many of these demands show the base's desire for a more left-wing party course.
The Greens are keen to remain open to all possible alliances, so there is a lot to be said for them not to decide whether they are striving to the left or to the center right.
Voters, however, are better served by clarity.
Green party base wants a more radical course: Annalena Baerbock now has a problem
Winner of the day ...
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Hope for easing - beer garden in Magdeburg
Photo: Ronny Hartmann / dpa
... is not the old life, because the old life never comes back, but a life that is partly familiar: Turkey is ending the hard lockdown, Schleswig-Holstein is loosening up in the areas of tourism, gastronomy, daycare centers, schools, in sport and in culture. It will continue like this for the next few days, hopefully with the necessary caution. Tomorrow, France's head of state Emmanuel Macron will even invite 30 heads of state and government as well as leaders of international organizations to his place, the topic will be the economic consequences of the corona pandemic for African countries. About half of the guests travel back to the future and are actually expected in Paris. The other half remains in the still unfamiliar present and is only supposed to participate via video conference - Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of them.
The latest news from the night
745,000 deaths per year due to overwork:
an overtime here, a weekend shift there: According to the United Nations, working too long causes hundreds of thousands of deaths every year - mainly from heart attacks and strokes
Israeli ambassador worried about anti-Semitic protests in Germany:
"It is disturbing to see these pictures": After the events over the weekend, Israel's highest representative in Germany expressed concern.
There were "unbelievable" statements
Brothers receive $ 75 million in compensation:
a dead 11-year-old and two confessions - the 1983 case seemed to be quickly resolved.
But then a DNA test exonerated the alleged murderer.
Now they are being compensated
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I wish you a good start to the day.
Your Susanne Beyer
