Germany's far-right, pro-Israel AfD sweeps Saxony-Anhalt in historic electoral breakthrough
Germany’s far-right and avowedly pro-Israel Alternative for Germany (AfD) has swept the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, bringing the party within reach of governing a German state for the first time since the end of the Nazi period.
The AfD secured 44.5 percent of the vote, according to an ARD exit poll, more than doubling its 2021 share. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union trailed far behind on 18.5 percent.
Reuters reported turnout of about 76 percent, significantly higher than is typical for German state elections.
"We have made history in this country," Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s 35-year-old lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, said speaking to Reuters.
It remains unclear whether the AfD can secure enough seats or find the political support needed to form a state government.
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The result has already set off alarm bells in France. Jean-Luc Melenchon, one of the country’s leading opposition politicians, warned on X that “The far right is back in Germany”.
Calling the result a “disaster”, Melenchon added that “under these conditions, the German military project to create Europe's first conventional army is unacceptable for France.”
The AfD’s classification as a far-right party has not stopped members of Israel’s government from considering it a potential political partner.
In February 2025, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli praised the anti-Islam and anti-Palestinian party for targeting groups that campaign for Palestinian rights.
Chikli said that, “surprisingly”, the AfD had led efforts to challenge German support for organisations critical of Israel.
“It was also the AfD that initiated a bill in April 2019 calling for a ban on the antisemitic BDS movement… In June 2019, the AfD also proposed a complete ban on Hezbollah’s activities in Germany,” wrote Chikli in a post on X at the time.
The AfD leadership has sought to present the party as an unflinching supporter of Israel despite repeated antisemitic and Holocaust-revisionist statements from figures within its ranks.
During a conversation with Elon Musk in January 2025, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel described her party as “the only protector of the Jewish people” in Germany.
Weidel has tied the AfD’s support for Israel directly to its campaigns against Muslims and immigration, casting the Israeli state as a partner in the party’s wider confrontation with Islam and Muslims.
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