Media reports Netanyahu advisers cooperated with CDU in Hesse — Anadolu Agency

Two close advisers to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly worked with Germany’s Christian Democratic Union in the federal state of Hesse on an information campaign. It was intended to support a legislative initiative to criminalize denial of Israel’s right to exist, Anadolu Agency reports, citing Frankfurter Rundschau.

Advisers’ correspondence

According to Frankfurter Rundschau, WhatsApp messages and contacts point to possible political cooperation between the Hesse branch of the CDU and Netanyahu’s advisers. One of the advisers, Srulik Einhorn, allegedly wrote to his colleague and business partner Yonatan Urich on September 5 about paid work with the CDU.

Later, Einhorn and Urich, according to the outlet, discussed how to get senior Israeli officials to share on X a post by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar supporting the initiative in Hesse. Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli was also involved.

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Bill in Hesse

In April, Hesse Minister-President Boris Rhein and the state’s justice minister, Christian Heinz, both CDU representatives, presented a bill concerning Israel’s right to exist. The federal government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz rejected the proposal because of significant constitutional risks. The Bundestag is to make a decision on the matter.

According to Frankfurter Rundschau, it is unknown whether Israel provided funds in exchange for support and who may have provided them. The Hesse CDU and Israeli entities contacted by the outlet declined to comment. Einhorn and Urich also did not comment on the report. An Israeli broadcaster reported that both visited Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin ahead of state elections in September.