One of Europe’s most powerful media moguls has a message for the continent: “We shall all be Zionists.” In May 2026, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner used those words to close a speech to the World Jewish Congress after declaring, “I am a Zionist.” A month later, his group, which owns Bild, Welt, Politico and Business Insider, completed its acquisition of Telegraph Media Group, expanding its reach further into the British media market.
At Axel Springer, the pro-Israel position has long gone beyond Döpfner’s personal views and is embedded in the media group’s official principles. Elsewhere in Europe’s media landscape, similar narratives are advanced through owners, boards of directors, specialized outlets, journalist outreach and political norms that make the Israeli perspective the default and familiar frame.
Mathias Döpfner’s Media Empire
Mathias Döpfner has been openly pro-Israel for years. In 2021, Axel Springer flew an Israeli flag outside its Berlin headquarters, and when some employees objected, he said anyone troubled by it should “look for a new job,” describing solidarity with Israel as a “German duty.”
In 2021, Döpfner was also pushing into German party politics. Before the Bundestag election, he asked Bild executives whether they could do more for the liberal Free Democratic Party, or FDP, and later urged then-editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt to give the party stronger backing. Bild subsequently denied that its coverage followed instructions from its owner.
In 2023, Die Zeit published internal messages in which Döpfner wrote, “Zionismus über alles. Israel my country,” roughly meaning, “Zionism above all. Israel is my country.” Axel Springer accused the newspaper of taking private messages out of context, but the wording was considerably stronger than conventional support for Israel.
Axel Springer’s corporate rules give that political position an institutional dimension. Its constitution, known as the Springer Essentials, lists Israel’s right to exist among the company’s core principles, while Döpfner has described those values as “non-negotiable” and argued that media companies cannot be neutral and should openly stand for certain principles.
