When Angela Merkel visited Israel in March, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert personally greeted the German chancellor at the airport, embracing her as if she were the president of the United States.
During the trip, Merkel heartily reaffirmed Germany’s “special” relationship with Israel, most notably through a groundbreaking speech delivered before the Knesset in which she repented of German atrocities committed during World War II and pledged that Germany would “never abandon Israel, but instead will remain a loyal partner and friend.”
After the visit, the consensus among Israel’s leaders and media pundits was, Germany is now Israel’s second-best friend.
Indeed, judging by the flirtatious political dialogue, it appears the Israel-German relationship is in radiant health. In tow with Merkel was half the German cabinet, who during the visit conducted an inaugural joint-cabinet meeting with Israeli counterparts in the Knesset.
But these leaders form the minority in Europe.
The Jewish people must come to see and accept that behind the courageous pro-Israel viewpoint of Angela Merkel, a highly dangerous anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism pervades the German mainstream. As inspiring as Merkel’s speech might have been to Israel’s leaders, the German chancellor is a lone voice crying in the wilderness.
Chancellor Merkel simply does not have the support of her people to act in any meaningful way on her bold rhetoric. In fact, her pro-Israel attitude could easily lead to her political demise.
It would be foolish for Israelis to begin to invest their hope in the Merkel administration. But that’s exactly what they are doing!
Only last month, a survey for the BBC showed that Germans were among Europeans with the least favorable views of Israel. A poll conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation last year showed that 3 in 10 Germans have no qualms comparing Israel today to fascist Germany. For as much as the Merkel administration declares its love of Israel, Germany today remains one of the largest trading partners of Iran, Israel’s sworn enemy and the single-greatest threat to Jewish statehood. Moreover, criticizing and condemning Israel’s efforts to defend itself against attacks from Hamas remains a mainstream pastime among German intellectuals, the media and political elite.
The day after Merkel’s Knesset speech, the Jerusalem Post’s Manfred Gerstenfeld wrote a column noting the dichotomy between the German chancellor and her people: “Few in Israel realize that a majority of Germans probably disagree with several key statements she made here about her country’s past—including the mention of shame and guilt,” he wrote.
He continued:
In contemporary Germany there are significant expressions of anti-Semitism and racism. This includes attacks on Jews, their cemeteries and Holocaust monuments, together with ongoing anti-Semitic prejudice toward Jews among significant parts of the population. In eastern Germany particularly, there are no-go areas for non-white people in several cities, major racist incidents and sometimes even murders.
At the same time, there are efforts in Germany to rewrite the past. Books by historian Jörg Friedrich, who compares the Allied actions to his nation’s atrocities during the war, are bestsellers. They promote “Holocaust equivalence” by using Nazi semantics to describe the Allied bombings of Germany during World War II. Another aspect of the same attitude is expressed by the many Germans who think that Israel is showing Nazi-like behavior toward the Palestinians. What they mean to say is, “If everybody is guilty, then nobody is.”
Israel’s leaders ought to be looking at all this evidence and asking themselves one simple question: Can Israel trust Germany?
During the trip, Merkel heartily reaffirmed Germany’s “special” relationship with Israel, most notably through a groundbreaking speech delivered before the Knesset in which she repented of German atrocities committed during World War II and pledged that Germany would “never abandon Israel, but instead will remain a loyal partner and friend.”
After the visit, the consensus among Israel’s leaders and media pundits was, Germany is now Israel’s second-best friend.
Indeed, judging by the flirtatious political dialogue, it appears the Israel-German relationship is in radiant health. In tow with Merkel was half the German cabinet, who during the visit conducted an inaugural joint-cabinet meeting with Israeli counterparts in the Knesset.
But these leaders form the minority in Europe.
The Jewish people must come to see and accept that behind the courageous pro-Israel viewpoint of Angela Merkel, a highly dangerous anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism pervades the German mainstream. As inspiring as Merkel’s speech might have been to Israel’s leaders, the German chancellor is a lone voice crying in the wilderness.
Chancellor Merkel simply does not have the support of her people to act in any meaningful way on her bold rhetoric. In fact, her pro-Israel attitude could easily lead to her political demise.
It would be foolish for Israelis to begin to invest their hope in the Merkel administration. But that’s exactly what they are doing!
Only last month, a survey for the BBC showed that Germans were among Europeans with the least favorable views of Israel. A poll conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation last year showed that 3 in 10 Germans have no qualms comparing Israel today to fascist Germany. For as much as the Merkel administration declares its love of Israel, Germany today remains one of the largest trading partners of Iran, Israel’s sworn enemy and the single-greatest threat to Jewish statehood. Moreover, criticizing and condemning Israel’s efforts to defend itself against attacks from Hamas remains a mainstream pastime among German intellectuals, the media and political elite.
The day after Merkel’s Knesset speech, the Jerusalem Post’s Manfred Gerstenfeld wrote a column noting the dichotomy between the German chancellor and her people: “Few in Israel realize that a majority of Germans probably disagree with several key statements she made here about her country’s past—including the mention of shame and guilt,” he wrote.
He continued:
In contemporary Germany there are significant expressions of anti-Semitism and racism. This includes attacks on Jews, their cemeteries and Holocaust monuments, together with ongoing anti-Semitic prejudice toward Jews among significant parts of the population. In eastern Germany particularly, there are no-go areas for non-white people in several cities, major racist incidents and sometimes even murders.
At the same time, there are efforts in Germany to rewrite the past. Books by historian Jörg Friedrich, who compares the Allied actions to his nation’s atrocities during the war, are bestsellers. They promote “Holocaust equivalence” by using Nazi semantics to describe the Allied bombings of Germany during World War II. Another aspect of the same attitude is expressed by the many Germans who think that Israel is showing Nazi-like behavior toward the Palestinians. What they mean to say is, “If everybody is guilty, then nobody is.”
Israel’s leaders ought to be looking at all this evidence and asking themselves one simple question: Can Israel trust Germany?
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