NZZ Briefing

The most important thing in the evening: AfD and BSW are making strong gains in Saxony and Thuringia and the growing anger of Israelis at their government

And you can only read this in the NZZ: The Cook County Jail in Chicago is one of the largest prisons in the USA. Under police chief Tom Dart, the once notorious conditions there have improved significantly. In an interview with the NZZ, Dart talks about his everyday life, the fight against drugs and his motivation to keep the prisoners busy. Read the interview

The most important thing in the evening

The AfD wins in Thuringia and Saxony more clearly than ever before

This is what happened: As expected, the CDU and AfD won many votes in the state elections in the eastern German states of Saxony and Thuringia. In Thuringia, the AfD was the strongest party, and in Saxony, the second strongest. There, Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) can hold on to his office. Sahra Wagenknecht's young BSW party achieved double-digit results in both states. The parties of the federal government, on the other hand, suffered heavy losses. The FDP lost its parliamentary group in Thuringia, and in Saxony it again failed to get into parliament. The Greens only managed to get over the five percent hurdle in Saxony. To the analysis

That’s why it’s important: The election results lead to a difficult starting position for possible coalitions in the state parliaments. Saxony's Prime Minister Kretschmer rules out cooperation with the AfD. His previous coalition with the SPD and the Greens, however, narrowly missed a majority. In Thuringia, the previously ruling Left Party of Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow lost many votes. The BSW could now be involved in governments in both federal states.

This is how the federal government reacted: The traffic light coalition has been clearly punished in both federal states. However, the reactions from Berlin show little insight. Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of bitter election results, but at the same time praised his party's election campaign. Green Party co-chair Ricarda Lang also did not see the results as a mandate to change course in federal politics. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) announced on X that the fight for liberal values ​​would not be given up. Read the report

This is how the AfD and the BSW learned from the elections: The AfD owes its rise to the strongest political force in Thuringia primarily to the votes of former CDU voters. More and more young people are voting for the far-right party. The BSW relied primarily on disappointed voters of the Left Party. But previous non-voters also voted for the alliance. Background

This is how the BSW positions itself: Without the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance, there will be no stable governments in Thuringia and Saxony. Wagenknecht is making a diplomatic initiative for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine a condition for participation in the government. In addition, the state governments must clearly oppose the stationing of new medium-range missiles in Germany, she demanded. Read the report

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis follow call for action

This is what happened: A strike blocked Israel's economy for several hours on Monday. The Histadrut trade union, business associations and the hostage families' forum called for the strike. The aim was to force the Israeli government to sign a ceasefire agreement with the terrorist organization Hamas. Israel's labor court ended the strike at 2:30 p.m.: It was not a labor uprising for higher wages, but a political strike. Read the report

That’s why it’s important: Pressure is growing on Netanyahu to show more flexibility in negotiations with Hamas. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the cabinet must move away from keeping Russian soldiers on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip even after a ceasefire. The Israeli military presence in this area is one of the major sticking points in the ceasefire negotiations. But Netanyahu has so far insisted on it.

This is the background: Almost 300,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv on Sunday to demand a hostage agreement and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The demonstrations were triggered by the discovery of six murdered hostages in the southern Gaza Strip. They were apparently killed by Hamas a few days before the arrival of the Israeli army.

This is how Hamas has displaced the Palestinian left: In the 1970s, Marxist, Maoist and Nasserist fighting groups formed the vanguard of the Palestinian cause. They were the ones who led the fight against Israel. Then radical Islam took their place. The Palestinian left remains fragmented to this day. Background

What else happened

• 9-Euro ticket reduced car traffic not: The 9-euro ticket cost the federal government 2.5 billion euros and only reduced traffic on the roads slightly, as an analysis by the Ifo economic research institute shows. According to the institute's study, the ticket only reduced car traffic by 4 to 5 percent. The 9-euro ticket was valid for several months in regional transport in 2022 and was replaced by the 49-euro ticket in 2023. To the reports from Germany
• VW is considering plant closures and redundancies: This could be part of the savings program, the German carmaker VW announced after a meeting with executives. VW ended the previously applicable job security, which excluded redundancies for operational reasons until 2029. The job cuts planned so far are not sufficient to achieve the savings targets set, it said. To the news from the economy
• Kamala Harris is slightly ahead in the US polls: The American Vice President and Democratic candidate in the US election campaign, Kamala Harris, is doing better in the polls than her opponent Donald Trump. However, the number of electoral votes is crucial for the election result. If you take this peculiarity of the American electoral system into account, the race for the next US presidency is still open. To the data analysis

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Before you go any further

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I wish you a nice evening.
Mirjam Moll

The briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. There is a weekend edition at 7 a.m. on Saturdays.