“closely connected”, not “X was a direct consequence of Y”

Correlation is an even worse legal/political justification for the law. Advances in rail infrastructure and in chemical engineering are also “closely connected to Germany’s responsibility for the Shoah”. WTF are we even talking about?

Yes, the 1897 First Zionist Congress in Basel predated the Nazi Party by 20+ years. One of Zionist organizer Herzl’s motives was to ensure refuge from European anti-Jewish racism. Same racism that led to the Nazi death camps.

That’s my point exactly. But there were other Jewish political projects that tried to address the same racism, that were not themselves racist (the founders of the Zionist movement, including Herzl himself, specifically characterized Zionism as a colonial project), such as the Jewish Bund. German pro-zionists today don’t get to play time-travellers and retroactively change what the foundation of Israel was about.