You could just see im going to war just you how target is. Choosing to go through burning streams and im not a jewish. Man tells g. W. He and his friend were beaten up for wearing the kippah in berlin and they werent even jewish. And for almost six decades cuba has been castro country fidel took power in the one nine hundred fifty nine revolution then handed it on to his brother raul ten years ago now this man may give the us can at least taking the home but will he leave cuba down a different path. Im swimming so misconduct if i have you with us israel is celebrating seventy years of independence according to the hebrew calendar that anniversary began at sundown on wednesday to honor the moment that the founding father David Bengurion announced the state of israel into. Since the following year saw the jewish state at better odds with its arab neighbors but Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu told crowds in jerusalem that real seeds of peace were beginning to sprout in the region. But in a blaze of fire the menorah the symbol of the state of israel comes to life. With a colorful ceremony the country marked its independence day. Seventy years since the jewish state was founded in the middle east israelis celebrated the countrys economic and cultural accomplishments. The event also marked israels memorial day a fleet of drones in the night sky formed the star of david over jerusalem to honor those who died for the country. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an honorary torch to remember those killed in his speech he issued a warning to the world that israel would defend itself against any would be aggressors. Growing up knowing. Today we are not deterred from the struggle against those who strive to annihilate us because we know how to defend ourselves with our own forces which is the essence of independence we are as determined as ever we are as strong as ever. Just weeks ago saudi arabia signaled a something of its bully anti israel stance netanyahu also emphasize israels hand is quote outstretched in peace to all our neighbors who want peace. Said she ally of israel and we can talk to our Political CorrespondentThomas Sparrow to talk about those ties between the two countries hi thomas tell us more about israel and germanys relationship and what sets it apart well what sets it up potts sumi is essentially its history and thats something that german politicians have stressed on and on various occasions thats something that im good im a coal also mentioned as a pot of germanys reason of state the right of existence to to israel thats something that germanys foreign minister heikal mohs also stressed in his inaugural speech saying that he entered politics because of our states he then also went to israel a few days later even if you look at the Coalition Agreement the new Coalition Agreement of the German Government theres a chapter on israel where the israel and relationships with israel i described is a pillar of german politics so you can certainly say that their relationship between germany and israel is very important some even describe it as unique it has been important historically thomas how would you describe ties today. Ties today are still good but there is potential to me there have been certain issues between germany and israel that have created tensions whether it is israels settlement policy or when a former foreign minister gabriele also met with organizations that are critical of the Israeli Government those were lemons that created tensions between the two countries but in general political relations are strong in fact israel has been one of the countries with which germany has governmental consultation and germany only has intergovernmental consultations with a handful of countries so that explains also how the relationship is strong even though as we have stressed they have been instances of tension between the two countries one point of tension thomas has been to both countries have expressed concern about growing antisemitism in germany including in some arabic communities here the attack on tuesday evening on a young man wearing a cap on berlin seems to show this lets take a look at what happened. Victim recorded the incident with his smartphone that didnt stop his attacker. The attacker repeatedly shouted. Which means do and with his victims a twenty one year old its really just twenty four year old german moroccan friend with a belt and the attacker was led away by his companion there were no further attacks. The two victims spoke with d. W. And explained that they are not even jewish that the yarmulke was a bit of a game an experiment to find out how dangerous it would be to walk around berlin as a jew the result of. I could not sleep at all last night. My body and various places. And i must say i just feel less safe. The incident took place in berlin strand the middle class prints lower back district not a high crime neighborhood its an area where residents rarely encounter violent all to cations. Think it takes place in the citys outskirts of the districts you think are violent anyway but this year i dont get to hear this. Come on you. Have to do something about this from the very standard schools Training Centers and have more reports from people who experienced this kind of thing. Belindas Jewish Community has been growing in recent years many have been moving here from russia but also many young israelis see berlin s affordable livable and less as the place where the holocaust originated but it seems to have become risky going to. Be in public. The elite weve had recently experienced increasing antisemitic incidents seen here they include physical threats and injuries so we have to say that the security situation for people who were clearly identifiable as jews has worsened from the kind of fish that the German Government appointed its first commissioner to combat antisemitism just a few days ago it is an issue and we have to prepare the schools equip the teachers with learning materials and maybe also with additional training in order to respond to these things and to make people aware of whats happening on. Adam has sustained some minor injuries these incidents stressing that jewish life in germany has to be protected one concrete measure so me as we saw in our piece is the. Special commission against antisemitism in the German Government but they have also been studies here in germany stressing the need for other measures whether it is more concrete to databases or ninety semitic crimes or long support for groups and organizations that are dealing with this issue and also trying to have more concrete information on different types of modern antisemitism or at least anti semitic tendencies in different parts of society whether were talking about the far right say you know the far left scene or even among muslim groups those are all issues that according to several studies have still to be dealt with by authorities here in germany. Political correspondent tom aspera reporting for us thomas good to talk to you now to some other stories making news around the world u. S. President donald trump says he is prepared to walk out of planned talks with the north Korean Leader kim jong un if they are not quote fruitful after discussing the planned sit down with the japanese Prime MinisterPresident Trump said maximum pressure must be maintained on north korea until the nation denuclearize this. And turkish president resurrected murder one has announced plans to hold early elections on june twenty fourth the early polls will haste in turkey switch from a parliamentary system to a president ial one that will strengthen everyones power the announcement came just before Turkeys Parliament voted to extend the countrys state of emergency which grants the governments sweeping powers. Cuban leader raul castro was moved a step closer to retirement after ten years in office the countrys parliament has proposed a Vice President may get the as his successor he was born after the one nine hundred fifty nine revolution in which fidel castro ousted us back to cater for him by piece that after years climbing the ranks of the communist Party Lawmakers consider him to be a safe bet to inherit the ideological legacy of castro hes an engineer by trade tech friendly and hes viewed as a socially liberal politician if confirmed will be the first person outside the classroom family to lead under communist rule. Earlier was joined by melissa chan here in the studio shes been reporting on cuba for the New York Times and is now with the Nonprofit Organization the Global Reporting Center i asked her to tell us more about custers likely successor he has come yet. We really dont know that much about him hes sort of walking on a very interesting line between an influential hardline faction among the cuban leaves and also people who want to reform including role castro who has pushed for reform but hasnt really managed to make as many changes as he has wanted dias canel is being very careful in part because there were successors in the past that eventually got sidelined for speaking too much too soon so will we see a change here in his policies or are we going to continue for example to see the opening that we saw under roll castro well even under rebel castro we saw an opening and then a pulling back and we see this often in cuba over the last few years i think to a certain extent i mean we have to keep in mind that raul castro is actually going to maintain some positions of power he is of course leaving the presidency but hes still going to be in charge of the communist party. And so will have to put that into consideration. The other thing though is that he doesnt have the revolutionary credentials of the castros so he does have to kind of deliver on the economy in some way shape or form and thats going to be the Pressure Point because there was a recession last year if you believe the numbers there is no longer recession right now but the g. D. P. Numbers are still not very good what are going to be his Biggest Challenges for example in his ties with the u. S. Well thats something that hes going to have to try to fix i mean the onus is of course on both sides United States under the trumpet ministration has pulled back on obama era normalization policies and of course you have the incidents with the american diplomats being impacted by these mystery sounds these alleged attacks and the cubans have denied any involvement in that so d. S. Can now will have to try to make some overtures of course that hopefully in d. C. They do so as well because american tourists bring american dollars and especially for cubans in havana they have really benefit. From that over the last two years and weve seen a dip in terms of the levels of tourism in havana how did you and your spoken to see the legacy of the castro family today well its very interesting young cubans they all want to see an improving economy as the report said a lot of them want to be able to leave the country but they do recognize the the impact of fidel castro of course even cubans ive spoken to who dislike the castro regime and are very much against the way the system is set up in cuba have said begrudgingly that they do respect fidel castro for having stood up to the americans all these years and of course for having led the revolution changes could be underway for cuba journalist joining us here in our studio thank you very much. To sports now in the semifinals of the german cup on wednesday night frankfurt be chalco one nil and theyll face byron munich in the final in the seventy fifth minute a corner from jonathan de guzman and luke a job which won the battle in the boston down the only goal of the match now it looked like frankel de santo had equalized for a shocker in the final minute but the referee ruled the argentinian had controlled the ball with his arm and the goal was disallowed. Now of the top story that were following for you here on israel has kicked off celebrations to mark seventy years since the jewish state was founded in the middle east Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has said israel wont spare those who raise a hand against it but he also hinted at better relations with some arab countries. Thank you for watching t w sarah kelly will be with you at the top of the hour with an update on your latest headlines until then head to our website d. W. Dot com. We make up over a week four times over because that hundred twenty five we are the Civil Service is. The one to shape the continents future to be part of it and join their numbers as they share their stories their dreams and their jumping jews the seventy seven percent platform for charging