{"id":73324,"date":"2025-06-27T09:02:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T07:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/?p=73324"},"modified":"2025-06-27T09:11:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T07:11:47","slug":"now-trending-hostility-toward-israel-with-a-clear-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/now-trending-hostility-toward-israel-with-a-clear-conscience\/","title":{"rendered":"Now Trending: Hostility Toward Israel with a Clear Conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On the disposal of Germany\u2019s commitment to the Jewish state<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In his essay for the major German weekend newspaper \u201cWelt am Sonntag\u201d Ralf F\u00fccks, founding director of LibMod, analyzes the current debate about Israel, the efforts to get rid of Germany\u2019s special commitment to the Jewish state (\u201cend of the cult of guilt\u201d), and the long lines of hostility toward Israel on the \u201cprogressive\u201d left.<\/em><\/h3>\n

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Wars are times of great lies and moments of truth. This also applies to German Israeli relations. All the celebra\u00adtions and talks of Germany\u2019s special respon\u00adsi\u00adbility have done little to conceal the alien\u00adation toward the Jewish state. We live in different realities, geograph\u00adi\u00adcally, polit\u00adi\u00adcally, and mentally. It was a grotesque misun\u00adder\u00adstanding to impose on Israel our illusions of a world in which inter\u00adna\u00adtional law prevails and all conflicts can be resolved through dialogue and compromise. Even Angela Merkel\u2019s dictum that Israel\u2019s security is part of Germany\u2019s raison d\u2019\u00e9tat was never a real commitment. Israel always knew that that, when push comes to shove, it will be on its own. However, without reassurance from the US, things could become difficult.<\/p>\n

Yesterday it was \u201csolidarity with Palestine\u201d, today it is \u201chands off Iran\u201d<\/h2>\n

Since the Gaza War, the cracks in the relationship with Israel have widened into a veritable dam burst. Its trigger \u2013 the triumphant attack by Hamas, with 1,200 Israelis murdered, an endless series of genocidal atroc\u00adities, and 250 hostages kidnapped \u2013 is now mentioned only out of a sense of duty. What this shock means for Israel, what trauma and deter\u00admi\u00adnation to defend itself it has triggered, remains misun\u00adder\u00adstood. In large parts of the public, Israel is the perpe\u00adtrator. Anti-Semitic attacks are rapidly increasing. There are calls for boycotts, open letters, and rallies against Israel. Yesterday it was \u201csolidarity with Palestine,\u201d today it is \u201chands off Iran.\u201d Even in liberal middle-class circles, Israel is considered a notorious war criminal and arsonist. It is true that anti-Israel mania is not a German specialty. In other countries, it is even more intense. But we are a special case.<\/p>\n

Across the political spectrum, there are calls to shake off historical partiality towards the Jewish state. No \u201cforced solidarity\u201d with Israel, as our new foreign minister called it. As if there ever was such a thing. Not a day goes by without criticism of Israel\u2019s real or alleged human rights viola\u00adtions in our media. Millions of newly minted inter\u00adna\u00adtional law experts agree in their condem\u00adnation of Israel. The fact that Germany opposes infla\u00adtionary condem\u00adnation of the Jewish state by the UN is the exception rather than the rule. We are reluctant to supply weapons anyway \u2013 with the laudable exception of submarines, which are part of Israel\u2019s nuclear life insurance policy.<\/p>\n

Solidarity that remains mere lip service<\/h2>\n

When Israel preempted an attack by an Arab coalition led by Egyptian President Nasser (\u201cWe will drive the Jews into the sea\u201d) in 1967, Willy Brandt declared in the Bundestag that Germany would remain strictly neutral, although this did not mean \u201cmoral indif\u00adference or sluggishness of the heart.\u201d A fairly accurate description. In the ensuing Yom Kippur War (1973), Israel found itself in a desperate situation at times. Never\u00adtheless, the social-liberal German government demanded that the US stop supplying weapons via German ports and airports.<\/p>\n

In other words, there has always been a gap between Sunday speeches and practical politics toward Israel. There has never been uncon\u00addi\u00adtional solidarity between states, nor can there ever be. But the current hyper\u00adcrit\u00adicism has taken on a new quality. Explaining it solely with Israel\u2019s excessive use of force in the Gaza Strip falls short. There is a funda\u00admental difference between criti\u00adcizing Israel\u2019s way of acting against an enemy that has sworn to destroy it and the systematic demonization of a country that still belongs to the democ\u00adratic world.<\/p>\n

Yes, the elimi\u00adnatory slogans coming from Netanyahu\u2019s extremist coalition partners are appalling. And it is unacceptable to use hunger as a weapon of war. But none of this explains the obsessive condem\u00adnation of Israel and the ignorance of the real threat to which the Jewish state has been exposed since its founding.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-Zionism\u201d is the cipher for hostility with a good conscience<\/h2>\n

The dam did not burst out of the blue. At univer\u00adsities and in parts of the media, Israel has long been viewed solely through the prism of the occupation and branded a colonial state. The anti-Semitism of some immigrant commu\u00adnities is coupled with the condem\u00adnation of Israel by the postcolonial left. In the cultural scene, too, accusa\u00adtions of apartheid and boycott campaigns are part of the agenda. \u201cAnti-Zionism\u201d is the cipher for hostility toward Israel with a good conscience.<\/p>\n

The post-war German left saw Israel as a progressive project. The radical left-wing offshoots of the \u201868 protest movement changed the perspective. For them, Israel was an outpost of Western imperi\u00adalism. Their solidarity lay with the various factions of the \u201cPales\u00adtinian liber\u00adation movement\u201d and their armed struggle against Israel. It did not remain mere words.<\/p>\n

On November 9, 1969, the anniversary of the pogrom night of 1938, a bomb attack by the \u201cTupamaros West Berlin\u201d on the Jewish community center in Fasanen\u00adstra\u00dfe narrowly failed. The indirect justi\u00adfi\u00adcation was provided a few days later by Dieter Kunzelmann, an idol of the Berlin left-wing alter\u00adnative scene: The left should shed its \u201cJewish complex.\u201d \u201cOnce we have finally learned to under\u00adstand the fascist ideology of Zionism, we will no longer hesitate to replace our simplistic philosemitism with solidarity with Fatah.\u201d This differs only in nuances from the new right\u2019s call to finally abandon the \u201cGerman cult of guilt.\u201d Nothing relieves the German soul as much as declaring Israel a rogue state and accusing it of genocide.<\/p>\n

German-Israeli estrangement must not remain<\/h2>\n

When the then Green Party leader Christian Str\u00f6bele said during the first Gulf War: \u201cThe Iraqi missile attacks are the logical, almost inevitable conse\u00adquence of Israel\u2019s polemics,\u201d it was still a scandal. Today, it is common opinion that Israel is itself to blame when it is attacked and that we should therefore not lift a finger in its defense.<\/p>\n

The fact that Friedrich Merz dared to say, \u201cIsrael does the dirty work for us,\u201d gives hope that the German-Israeli estrangement is not irreversible. However, the reaction to this shows that a good portion of our opinion-forming elites are not prepared to climb down from their high ranks of moral superi\u00adority. Merz is only stating an uncom\u00adfortable truth. Even a just war is a violent, risky enter\u00adprise. Those who wage it to avert an existential threat, get their hands dirty. Instead of scolding Israel, we should do our utmost to support the Jewish David in his struggle against Iran and its axis of evil, in our own best interests. An Iran that has been shown its limits is easier to negotiate with.<\/p>\n

\"Textende\"[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text]Hat Ihnen unser Beitrag gefallen? Dann spenden Sie doch einfach und bequem \u00fcber unser Spendentool. Sie unter\u00adst\u00fctzen damit die publizis\u00adtische Arbeit von LibMod.<\/p>\n

Spenden mit Bankeinzug<\/h2>\n

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