The UK pushes back on Israeli settlements; a far-right win in Germany

0:00Billionaire Mark Cuban has stared into the belly of the beast of America's healthcare system. I mean, it's so bad, you can go through a long list of really quality hospitals, and they don't know their costs. So, can Medicare for All be a solution? We take a hard look at the cost of the program along with U.S. healthcare itself. Find this and hear more stories from The Indicator from Planet Money on the NPR app. Today on State of the World, the U.K. pushes back on Israeli settlements. And a far-right win in Germany.

0:36You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. In a few minutes, for the first time in decades, a far-right party wins a German election. First, the United Kingdom announced a major reset of its relations with Israel. And the country's foreign minister used surprisingly strong language in explaining the move. The U.K. was joined by France, Canada, and nine other countries who say they're all banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.

1:16Israel and its closest ally, the United States, condemned the move. And Israel says it's retaliating. To understand what this might mean, we're going to hear more from NPR's Lauren Frayer in London. She spoke to Scott Detrow. Tell us more about this announcement and what's behind it. So the UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament that the government here has concluded that, quote, settler terrorists are responsible for ethnic cleansing against Palestinians. And that's the strongest language UK officials have used. He accused Israel of sabotaging the two-state solution. So that's a Palestinian state that would exist side by side with Israel.

1:54Here's what Miliband said in Parliament. Securing the two-state solution in its fullest form is the North Star of this government's policy and indeed of successive British governments over decades. And it is precisely this belief in the rights and freedoms of the Israeli and Palestinian people that leads many, including me, to a deep sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine. Miliband looked shell-shocked when he came out of a recent briefing with doctors who had been to Gaza. And today he said not only is the U.K. banning goods made or manufactured in settlements, so things like fruit and veg or wine, but it's also sanctioning companies that do business in those settlements or help construct them, even companies that advertise real estate in settlements.

2:34And it's unclear how many companies or business people will be affected by this. While he spoke, the foreign ministers of 12 countries issued a statement saying they're taking similar action. You know, this has all been a global focus for so long now. Why take this step now? So Miliband and the other foreign ministers say this is in response to Israel's settlement expansion, particularly of the E1 project. Israel has issued tenders for the construction of 1 ,200 new homes that would basically split the land in half that Palestinians want for their future state. What's been the reaction? The Palestinian ambassador to the UK says this marks a turning point where the UK moves from words, recognizing a Palestinian state last year, which was largely symbolic, to actions today.

3:15Now polls show most Brits and most Europeans support this, but the UK's chief rabbi called this a dark day for British Jews. Given that, worth pointing out that Miliband is Jewish himself? Yes, and his parents were actually Holocaust survivors. And he spoke with real emotion and rare personal detail today about picking oranges on an Israeli kibbutz. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, I'm proud of my Jewishness and unwavering in my support for the state of Israel. And there is absolutely no contradiction between this and my support for the state of Palestine. You know, earlier, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, accused Miliband of what he called Jew hate.

3:53And Miliband said, this is not about Jews. This is about the Israeli government. And how is the Israeli government responding to all of this? It's closing the British consulate in Jerusalem, banning 12 British MPs from visiting Israel. The normally apolitical Israeli president accused the U.K. of being on the wrong side of history. The country's finance minister posted on social media that Israel will not be a, quote, doormat trampled by an anti-Semitic government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also asked about this on the tarmac today in Miami. Well, they alerted us to it. We don't have any announcements.

4:25Obviously, those are decisions that they make. And we and the president has expressed this in the past. We don't want to see anything destabilizing going on right now in the West Bank. That's a relatively muted reaction. Israel may have been hoping that the U.S. would really rally to its defense here. but relations between the U.S. and Israel have also been kind of rocky lately. That is NPR's Lauren Frayer joining us from London. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

4:53In Germany, there was an election over the weekend in a small eastern region of the country, but it sent shockwaves across Germany and into Europe more broadly. A far-right party called AFD won big, and the party of German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, the conservative Democrats, received a record low number of votes. The result is raising some tough questions about German democracy. Esme Nicholson in Berlin explains. That's the man who has unnerved the German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz. Half Merz's age, 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund and his party, the Alternative for Germany, have won 43 % of the vote in what should have been a quiet election in the small state of Saxony-Anhalt.

5:41Speaking to public broadcaster ARD, Siegmund said the result sends a very clear signal to Berlin, adding this is the end of the line. People do not want to go on like this. Siegmund is now hoping to become the country's first far-right state governor since the Nazis were in power. While the AfD, which ran on an anti-immigration ticket, is three seats shy of the majority needed to govern, its resounding success has turned heads far beyond Berlin. President Donald Trump posted the results on Truth Social, which the Kremlin then reposted, calling it an historic win. But not all reactions were positive.

6:25Speaking to RTL, France's finance minister, Roland Lescour, said the AFD's success sends a very, very worrying signal. The prime minister of Germany's other immediate neighbour, Poland's Donald Tusk, wrote on X that, in Poland, only idiots or traitors can rejoice in the triumph of the AFD in Germany. But in Berlin, a visibly deflated Friedrich Merz conceded his centre-right Christian Democrat Party's most severe election defeat in years or decades.

6:57It's part of democracy that party majorities shift, Merz admitted reluctantly, but the values of our constitution are not up for debate, he warned, adding that in our democracy power is granted, not seized, and minorities are not the enemy of the majority. Merz's comments come amid fears about the far-right AFD's plans for Saxony Anhalt. Siegmund, a former salesman, has a knack for packaging his party's policies in positive slogans. But the AfD's regional platform is the party's most radical and it's considered anti-constitutional because of its remigration policy, which promises mass deportations and calls to segregate refugees and disabled children in schools.

7:40Markus Zina, visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund, says this is what makes accepting the will of the electorate so tricky. Do we want to bring a party into power that is outright anti-constitutional? Do we have the obligation to prevent a party like this to gain power in our country? He adds that this is where the AFD's understanding of democracy diverges. Speaking to public broadcaster ZDF, AFD federal leader and possible future chancellor candidate Alice Weidel accused the other parties of being undemocratic for refusing to work with her party. We are Democrats, Weidel insisted. We talk to everyone.

8:19We do not erect firewalls. Weidel then declared that the CDU would never win another election. But Siegmund is still short of three seats and is vying for the support of anyone willing to, quote, step out of their comfort zone to make him governor. Anyone who does will be keenly aware of the historical steps they're taking. For NPR News, I'm Esmeeniklsen in Berlin.

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