Israel rebukes German paper for claim Jews took Arab land to create Israel

Israeli diplomat called out a leading German weekly on Twitter for its biased cover story leading up to Israel's Independence Day.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Updated: APRIL 15, 2018 19:57
Crowds of people celebrate the founding of Israel in 1948. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Crowds of people celebrate the founding of Israel in 1948.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
An Israeli diplomat in Berlin reprimanded leading weekly Die Zeit for the cover story of its current issue, which argues that Jews from across the globe “settled Arab lands” to build the State of Israel.
“@zeitonline, friendly reminder: Jews have been living in this land since the time of King David, King Solomon and Jesus,” embassy spokeswoman Adi Farjon tweeted on Thursday.

The article’s headline, “Israel at 70: Why is There No Quiet in This Country?” triggered outrage over the omission of historical facts.
The paper asserted that “Jews from across the world settled Arab lands and simply created facts out of which the State of Israel grew.”
Responding to the omissions in the article, the Anne Frank Educational Center wrote on its Twitter feed that the “historical background of the founding of Israel is not mentioned [nor] centuries-old antisemitism & the Shoah.”
The Frankfurt-based organization added: “Why did Die Zeit not write that since Israel’s creation in 1948 its existence has been threatened?”
Die Zeit is a weekly newspaper published in Hamburg with a readership of more than 500,000. Former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt was a CEO and publisher of Die Zeit. Schmidt, a Wehrmacht soldier during World War II, urged the international community to sanction the Jewish state in 2010 because of Israel’s policies in the territories.