'Europe must become more Jewish' says owner of Telegraph and Politico

Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of Axel Springer and owner of The Telegraph and Politico, told the World Jewish Congress (WJC) that “anti-Zionism is racism” during a speech in Geneva.

Addressing the organisation’s governing board on Monday, Dopfner delivered a wide-ranging speech laden with anti-immigrant rhetoric, calls for censorship and attacks on musicians, artists, universities and the UN.

The media executive made headlines in April after telling journalists at Politico that they must back Israel or resign, fuelling concerns that the newsroom’s independence is under threat. Axel Springer acquired the political news site in 2021.

He has also been explicit about his ideological position, telling the audience: "I'm a goy, and I'm Zionist, with all my heart, out of conviction, and with passion."

In the same speech, Dopfner lashed out at the UN Human Rights Council, which he accused of unfairly maligning Israel by highlighting war crimes, human rights abuses and apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories, deriding it as the “human rights Twistings Council”.

Anti-Zionism is now “spreading rapidly across the United States, throughout Europe, in universities, in the arts and culture scene, on social media and on the streets of our cities, in words and in deeds,” added Dopfner, pointing to what he portrayed as a growing willingness to criticise Israel.

'Today, Zionism is a dirty word to many'

Dopfner went further, alleging that criticism of Israel had made countries such as “Germany, France or England and Spain among others” no “longer truly safe countries for Jews”.

'In America, TikTok has been forced to be sold...Europe should follow this example'

"There must be a misunderstanding here. It is not Zionism that is racism. It is anti-Zionism that it racism,” he said.

The media executive argued that the rise of anti-Zionism is driven by “envy” at Jewish success, while making no reference to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land or to proposals by Israeli politicians for a “greater Israel” stretching from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq.

“Only a self-assured, proud Jewish identity can help reduce envy and [the] new antisemitism,” Dopfner went on to add.

Framing growing criticism of Israel as a warning sign of “authoritarianism”, Dopfner proposed a series of draconian measures.

Anti-Zionists, who the pro-Israel media figure conflates with antisemites, “regardless of their origin, must be expelled wherever legally possible”.

Dopfner also praised UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, saying she had advanced similar proposals that “every democratic country” should support.

“Europe should introduce preferential immigration and citizenship for Jewish families,” Dopfner prescribed, presenting it as a counterweight to what he described as “Christian and particularly Muslim influences” in Europe.

The Telegraph owner also called for the censorship of TikTok in Europe.

“In America, TikTok has been forced to be sold to non-Chinese owners,” he said, referring to the forced sale of the company by the Trump administration earlier this year to the pro-Zionist billionaire Larry Ellison, a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Europe should follow this example,” said Dopfner, warning that if it does not defeat anti-Zionism, the West “will destroy itself”.

Dopfner’s increasingly public interventions reflect a broader effort to counter mounting international condemnation and isolation of Israel following its genocide in Gaza and its role in pushing the United States into a war with Iran, which has triggered widening global economic fallout affecting billions.

Similar concerns over declining support for Israel were also voiced at Tikvah’s 2025 Jewish Leadership Conference in the United States, where billionaires, investment bankers, media figures, lawyers and Zionist Christians gathered to address what they see as a growing backlash.

The event, which brought together the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish Leadership Conference and the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, called for greater censorship of voices across the political spectrum amid rising criticism of Israel - or, as participants framed it, “saving America from the barbarians”.