Three coffins paraded in front of propaganda images, against a background of triumphant music, before being handed over to the Red Cross: this was the image that extinguished the hope that, despite everything, had endured since October 7. The return of the bodies of the Bibas children and their mother, and the revelation of their abject murder, reactivate this unfortunately real nightmare, in which antisemitic hatred is unleashed on the symbol of the continuity of Jewish life: children. In the face of this crime, there is really nothing to say, and one should be able to feel one’s rage in peace: those who committed it are already beyond redemption. But some have allowed themselves the luxury of forgetting the perversity of the Hamas exterminators, while others have simply never accepted it: in the face of the crime, in the very face of its victims, they see only “Zionist propaganda”. It is therefore necessary to name things once again. Bruno Karsenti’s text serves as a reminder of what hope the Bibas family was called. And, on the day after the funeral of Shiri Bibas and her two children, we are republishing “Kfir’s Rattle” by Joseph Ziegler, who in December 2023 was able to say a few words that were just right for the thoughts that we had at the time about the captivity of this hostage who had already become a symbol. “Kfir, wherever you are, hope with us,” wrote the author at the time. The hope was in vain.
Fortunately, there are still at least a few crumbs of hope left, and the current situation requires that we know how to seize them when they present themselves. So here’s the good news: the AfD’s scores in this weekend’s German federal elections were certainly significant, but less than what those in the West and the East who already see Europe as dead and buried would have liked. Then, the victory speech given by Friedrich Merz, the leader of the CDU, attempted to rise to the historic challenge, emphasizing the need to organize Europe’s military independence from Americans who have become “largely indifferent to its fate”. That the man who, a few weeks ago, got a motion through the Bundestag with the support of the AfD is now preparing to become Chancellor of Germany is, on the other hand, less reassuring. One can only hope that the insistence with which he ruled out any collaboration with this far-right party after the elections will survive the reality test that is the construction of a coalition in an increasingly fragmented German political landscape. We are therefore re-sharing the rich and detailed investigation by Monty Ott into the history of the AfD, so that we can appreciate what Europe has just escaped.
