World
New CDU leader is known as pro-Israel
But Armin Laschet has controversial views of Bashar al-Assad
January 19, 2021 16:15
But Armin Laschet has controversial views of Bashar al-Assad
January 19, 2021 16:15Armin Laschet is the new leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The 58-year-old governor of Germany’s most-populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, beat Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen in the race to succeed defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who announced her intention to resign in February 2020 after an underwhelming two years in the leadership role.
Mr Laschet’s victory makes him one of the frontrunners to be the CDU’s candidate to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor when Germans go to the polls on September 25.
The CDU will select its chancellor candidate in the spring.
An ally of Mrs Merkel, Mr Laschet favours the centrist course charted by the long-serving chancellor who sees the security of Israel as a raison d’état.
Mr Laschet’s first major overseas trip as governor was to Israel in 2018. He cultivated close economic, scientific and cultural ties between North Rhine-Westphalia and Israel, opening a representative office in Tel Aviv in March.
Mr Laschet has spoken of his admiration for Israel as the ‘start-up nation’ and of its capabilities when it comes to fighting terrorism.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Mr Laschet initiated a programme of joint visits to Auschwitz by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim young people aged 16 to 24 and ruled out cooperation between his party and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The Reform Union of Progressive Jews in Germany honoured Mr Laschet in March with the Israel Jacobson Prize, describing him as a “dependable friend and longstanding partner of the Jewish community in Germany and the State of Israel”.
On the Middle East, Mr Laschet, like Mrs Merkel, favours the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear deal adopted in 2015. After the United States pulled out of the JCPOA in 2018, he argued the agreement had “made the world safer” and that Germany, along with Britain, France, Russia, and China must “save the deal”.
More controversially, Mr Laschet has been a critic of Western opposition to the Assad regime in Syria. He has previously described Bashar al-Assad as a protector of religious minorities in Syria and an opponent of extremist organisations like ISIS and Al-Nusra Front. “Assad was fighting against ISIS and [John] Kerry tried to weaken Assad in this fight”, Mr Laschet has said.
Had Britain and the United States bombed Assad’s troops in 2013, he argued in 2014, “ISIS would be in Damascus today in the vicinity of Israel”.