At the entrance to the meeting room of the caucus of the conservative German Christian-Democratic Union (CUD) party at the Bundestag in Berlin hangs a photo documenting a historical moment of the relation between Germany and Israel: the first meeting between Konrad Adenauer, West Germany‘s first Chancellor after WWII and Israel first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion that took place in New York’s Waldorf Astoria on March 1960.
Fifteen years after the end of the Holocaust, this public meeting between the leaders of the two nations symbolized the beginning of the reconciliation process between the land of the Nazi perpetrators and the Jewish State representing many Holocaust survivors. It paved the way for the establishment of diplomatic relations between West Germany and Israel five years later.
German-Israeli relations
This year, the reunified Germany and Israel are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations, but not without difficulties.
Despite the close alliance, which developed over the years between both countries and the declared official solidarity with Israel, the Swords of Iron War estranged Germany and Israel. At long last, young German generations can feel that the time has come to free their country and themselves from “German shame” resulting from crimes committed by older generations and from any “historical responsibility” towards Israel, which many of them wrongly consider as a new “perpetrators´ land”.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU, the projected winner of the German general election of February 23 and the most probable next Chancellor, often refers to the meeting at Waldorf Astoria between Adenauer and Ben Gurion when he speaks about Germany’s commitment to Israel, its existence and security.
In a political atmosphere, in which standing by Israel becomes more and more difficult and rare, Merz´s clear and continued support of the Jewish State shines as a light in the darkness. While the last CDU Chancellor, Angela Merkel, defined Israel’s existence and security as being part of Germany´s “raison d´état” (Staatsräson. higher national interest), Merz upgraded this definition.
In a speech he held at the Bundestag on May 2023 on the occasion of Israel´s 75th independence day, he declared: “The right of the state of Israel to exist and its security are part of the inviolable and indispensable core of the policy of the Federal Republic of Germany and of all our state institutions”. During a special debate at the Bundestag commemorating the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks, Merz – as leader of the opposition, attacked the German center-left government of Olaf Scholz for freezing weapons export to Israel, forcing Scholz to declare that Germany would further supply Israel the weapons it needs.
Merz stressed in his speech that “there should be no cracks in the solidarity with Israel when Israel does what it needs to defend itself” and vehemently criticized antisemitic anti-Israel positions of the German left, expressed especially in art and culture institutions and events. He also insisted that one of the ways to efficiently fight the spread of antisemitism in Germany would be to stop the massive immigration of young men coming from Arab and Muslim countries, “where the elimination of the State of Israel, and not its defence, is part of the socialisation.
However, in the same speech, he mentioned the new peace initiative of former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and the former Palestinian Foreign minister and nephew of Yasser Arafat, Nasser Al-Qudwa, as a ray of hope to relaunch a peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. Olmert and Al-Qudwa have been travelling all over Europe in recent months, promoting their “peace initiative” that is based on the generous but failed peace proposition Olmert presented in 2008 to the leader of the Palestinian Autonomy Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas never rejected the peace plan. He just didn’t react and waited for Olmert to exit the Israeli premiership. Believing that a 2-states-solution peace plan, which didn’t work almost two decades ago can be relevant after the horrors of October 7, committed by Palestinians and perpetuated by the cruel release of hostages, doesn´t reflect a sense of political realism.
The German political establishment, from left and right, has been defending the Palestinians for far too long. Somehow, the strange idea of a German “double responsibility” – towards the Jewish victims of the Nazis and the “victims of the victims”, i.e. the Palestinians, became a leitmotiv of German foreign policy in the Middle East, allowing Berlin not only to interfere in Israeli internal and external politics but also to finance very generously the Palestinians, despite their ongoing commitment for the destruction and annihilation of the Jewish state.
According to official records, Germany paid Palestinian bodies, including UNRWA, in 2023 and 2024 913 million Euros.
The Germans have become one of the main donors of the Palestinians, however anti-Israeli and anti-peace they are.
Such an attitude reflects more responsibility than responsibility. If he becomes a chancellor, Merz should break with this traditional German attitude that has contributed to delaying and avoiding peace instead of promoting it. The Palestinians have to understand that there is a high price for their violence and terror.
It must be clear to them that murdering Jews is not a profitable profession. Ending the “pay to slay” mentality and the denazification of the Palestinian society are two primordial preconditions to any future peace process. Another one is the dissolving of all “Palestinian refugee camps” in the Middle East and erasing the artificial Palestinian refugee status. Instead of opposing US President Donald Trump´s attempts to think outside the box in order to solve the Mideast conflict, Germany should mobilize itself to help him, rethinking its attitude,
65 years have passed since Adenauer met Ben Gurion for the first time in New York. Remembering history is important, but forming the present time for the sake of a better future is much more important. Merz is right to follow Adenauer, but he should show that he is no less a leader. Realpolitik should replace illusions.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
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