AMERICAN EDITION

March 6, 2011

Dear Friends

A NOTE FROM YOUR EDITOR

In my newsletters I try to maintain an upbeat, at times humorous, edge in reporting and commenting on situations that have no real humor in them. In writing what follows I find myself void of any jocular feelings. In fact, I am rather down in the mouth about what I see as a growing and serious disconnect between Germany and the State of Israel. Considering that Germany is Israel’s most important friend in Europe, it poses a very big problem

It actually began to be apparent about a year and a half ago when the European Union decided to establish an all-Europe international relations section with a British subject, Lady Catherine Ashton as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. This new agency is enormously important and will eventually have 13,000 people working in it. Since High Representative Ashton’s appointment she has been nothing but critical of Israel at every turn. Her Palestinian leanings are quite obvious. Warning lights went on.

It became obvious to me that this new EU body would be a genuine voice on Middle East policy. I raised questions with my German friends about Germany’s independent foreign policy especially as it pertained to Israel. I didn’t get any satisfactory answers. Some said an overall European policy was more important than a singular German one. I didn’t agree and still don’t.

On top of that, in late 2010, the Bundestag passed a unanimous resolution condemning Israel over the Turkish flotilla to Gaza incident. I felt that if Germany was unhappy with Israel’s actions there were many other sorts of diplomatic moves (letters, statements, diplomatic meetings, etc.) they might have utilized. Instead they decided on a Bundestag resolution which was passed unanimously. Very strong medicine indeed!

More recently, at the UN Security Council, Germany went along with 13 other nations condemning Israel’s settlement policy. It was left to the U.S. to veto the resolution. I’m sure they “voted their conscience” but in its support, Germany and the others gave the Palestinians a sense of empowerment and feeling that they will gain more through the UN process than in sitting down with the Israelis for face to face negotiations. It drove a stake right through the heart of a negotiated settlement at least for the foreseeable future.

Even more recently, Haaretz and other journals carried a story about a heated phone conversation between Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Netanyahu

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(see story below) wherein the Chancellor accused The P.M. saying, “You haven't made a single step to advance peace." It was leaked by a German source. These sorts of things don’t get leaked without a purpose.

Whether that statement is true or not, the German vote at the Security Council helped torpedo any chance to “advance peace” any time soon.

I’m not the only one who thinks that. Click here to read Richard Boudreaux’s article which also appeared in The Wall Street Journal. http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.israel/browse_thread/thread/ea8faf0183bdc0e9/caf0ed886098bc2a?lnk=raot

A growing feeling among some German leaders is that, while claiming friendship for Israel, they are now free to say that Israel had better make peace (at any price?) before the chances of a two state solution are gone. Perhaps they legitimately and honestly feel that way. Maybe they even have a point. However, are these increasingly open critical statements and actions helping the movement toward a peace settlement? I would argue in the negative.

I hope that I am viewing things clearly. When I add up all the above and try to see whether there is some guiding principle, it seems to me that Germany is slowly but surely cutting itself loose from Israel, at least from an Israel government they do not like. Forget about the “special relationship”. Germany has learned to live with its history; they are handling it to the satisfaction of most and now feel free to be critical of Israel when they see it in their own interest to do so. Anyone who expects a positive eternal political link between the two countries is dreaming.

I don’t think Germany is any kind of enemy. There are many facets of the relationship that are still excellent. Actually I believe there is a deep reservoir of friendship in the hearts of many Germans toward Israel and the Jews – including that of the Chancellor. However, I think the government leaders see their national interests in the Middle East as being very different than those of Israel. Lord Palmerston, the 18th Century English statesman is quoted as saying, “Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.” 325 million Arabs vs. 6 million Jewish Israelis (plus one third of the world being Muslim), a sense that they are right about Israel’s intransigence and the importance of oil supplies for Europe obviously trump the increasingly distant connection to Israel and the Holocaust.

However, let’s not go off the deep end. Germany is critically important to Israel. It is the engine that drives the European Union and both are critical to Jewish interests. There is still a great store of positive feeling in Germany toward Israel. We should try to build on it while explaining the difficult position Israel finds itself in and the support that it needs from Germany and the EU. It would be suicidal for us to turn our backs and burn our bridges.

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There are no easy fixes. However, increased dialogue focusing on Israel’s vulnerable situation, its security needs, the efforts it has made and is now making to affect a peace and the intransigence of the Palestinians should be stressed. American Jewry’s most important tool in this case is enlightened discussion. We should not give up on that. Germany is too important!

I’d be interested in your comments. Click here to send me an e-mail

IN THE REST OF THIS EDITION

THE NETAYAHU – MERKEL PHONE CONVERSATION – It obviously wasn’t a “Hello, how are you?”

A SERIOUS SPLIT – Members of the German – Israel Association get into the act.

THE HAMBURG ELECTION – The Chancellor’s party suffers a shellacking.

NAMED AFTER WHOM? – A few schools in Germany are names after questionable characters.

”I WAS ONLY “HEILING” A CAB” – “Tell it to the Judge”

THE GUTTENBERG PLAGIARISM SCANDAL – A fallen idol.

THE NETAYAHU – MERKEL PHONE CONVERSATION

As noted above, a very heated phone conversation between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chancellor Merkel recently took place. Haaretz reported, “A crisis erupted between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During a telephone call this week, Merkel told Netanyahu that he had disappointed her and had done nothing to advance peace, sources told Haaretz.

The prime minister tried to persuade Merkel that he was about to launch a diplomatic initiative, explaining he is making a speech in two weeks in which he will outline a new peace plan.

A senior German source said Netanyahu had called Merkel on Monday, following the American veto in the UN Security Council last Friday and Germany's vote in favor of the Palestinian proposal to condemn construction in West Bank settlements.

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The conversation between the two leaders was extremely tense and included mutual accusations and harsh statements, the official said.

Netanyahu told Merkel he was disappointed by Germany's vote and by Merkel's refusal to accept Israel's requests before the vote, the source added. Merkel was furious.

"How dare you," she said, according to the official. "You are the one who disappointed us. You haven't made a single step to advance peace."

The prime minister assured Merkel that he intended to launch a new peace plan that would be a continuation of his Bar-Ilan University speech, given in June 2009, in which he agreed to establishing a Palestinian state, the official revealed.

"I intend to make a new speech about the peace process in two to three weeks," Netanyahu told Merkel.

The German chancellor and her advisers, who have been repeatedly disappointed by Netanyahu's inaccurate statements and failure to keep promises, did not believe a word of what the prime minister told her, the source said.

Merkel decided to check with Israeli and U.S. officials to determine whether Netanyahu was serious this time around, or was merely trying to buy more time and alleviate the international pressure on him.

Haaretz's check with a number of Israeli sources indicates that the prime minister and his advisers are desperately looking for a way to jumpstart the peace process, in view of Israel's growing international isolation. "Netanyahu has recently begun talking about a second Bar-Ilan speech," said a senior Foreign Ministry official close to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

A non-government source told Haaretz that Netanyahu and his advisers are working on a speech that would outline an alternative to the interim agreement with the Palestinians, similar to Lieberman's plan. That initiative, which Haaretz reported on a month ago, consists of establishing a Palestinian state within temporary borders on about 50 percent of the West Bank.

The prime minister has been discussing the plan with Lieberman in recent weeks to understand it more thoroughly.

All of the sources, however, added that it was unclear whether Netanyahu seriously intended to advance the peace process or whether he merely wants to appear to be doing so, as a means of shifting international pressure onto the PA. In the latter case, he is counting on the Palestinians' objection to the Israeli initiative.

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A source in the prime minister's office confirmed that Netanyahu told Merkel of his intention to outline his plans in a speech, but not in the next few weeks. The speech would be made only in the context of resuming the peace talks with the PA, the source revealed.

Merkel ended her visit in Israel three weeks ago deeply disappointed, a German official said. While here, she told Netanyahu the situation in the Middle East, in view of the revolution in Egypt, made it necessary for Israel to create a peace initiative.

Who knows what really took place during the phone call or what the real level of emotion was? However, the German government would not have had a “senior German source” release the story if a) it had not happened or b) they had some good reason for wanting it out in the public. On the last issue, it’s hard to know the reasons behind the “leak”. Pressure on Netanyahu? A statement that Islamic countries could see so as to place Germany closer to them and not on Israel’s side in the Palestine matter? It doesn’t make any difference, the message is clear. Given Israel’s current policies, on them Israel can no longer count.

A SERIOUS SPLIT

According to Spiegel-On-Line, “A dispute is brewing in the German-Israeli Association (DIG) over a fundamental question: How openly should German politicians be allowed to criticize the policies of the Jewish state?

Because of the Holocaust and Germany's responsibility for World War II, solidarity with the Jewish state founded in 1948 is a fundamental tenet of German policy. Israel's security is "part of my country's raison d'être," Merkel said in a speech to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in 2008.

Since the establishment of the DIG in 1966, supporting the institution has been seen as the right thing to do in German politics.

The DIG receives financial support from the federal government and has close ties to the Israeli embassy. All parties with seats in the German parliament, the Bundestag, except the Left Party, appoint a vice-president to the DIG.

But the association's current behavior is anything but friendly. The dispute erupted after the Israeli army boarded a Turkish ship carrying aid supplies for the Palestinians last May. Nine people died in the incident, and the Israeli actions were criticized worldwide. The Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, also adopted a unanimous resolution demanding that Israel lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, much to the irritation of the fundamentalists in the DIG.

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At the association's annual meeting in the fall, (Jochen) Feilcke (former CDU Bundestag member) and his allies demanded the ouster of the members of parliament from their positions as DIG vice-presidents. When he failed, Feilcke resigned from the board. But he has no intention of giving up the fight. In a piece in the upcoming issue of the DIG's magazine, Feilcke argues that the organization must support positions "independently of Bundestag resolutions or decisions at party conventions."

Marieluise Beck, a member of parliament for the Green Party and one of the DIG vice-presidents, complains about "party line enforcers" who shouldn't even be in the DIG.

Beck wrote an essay for the DIG to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. At the end, she wrote about the "occupation policy" in Palestine and said it was a "gift" that Israelis and Germans could discuss such issues today.

Unhappily, this article fits in all too well with my opening statement.

It is very sad and, frankly, dangerous that there is a split in the DIG and, worse, that it has become so public. In addition, it had divided some of the most important government figures leading to, in my opinion, a lessening in German support of Israel giving cover to all sorts of “soft” Israel critics who can now be more openly critical about Israeli government policies.

We already see the current government being critical of Israeli actions regarding the Turkish boat incident followed up by supporting the Palestinian Security Council resolution on settlements. There is little doubt that Chancellor Merkel’s supportive stands are eroding and that the CDU/CSU/FDP coalition will become more critical in the future.

One does not have to be a political seer to see that changes in the Middle East, no matter what kind, will bring about stronger negative feelings and policies about Israel not only in that region but in Europe as well. I fear that the Germany, the bulwark of Israel defense, melding more and more into EU positions, will more and more join the list of Israel critics. Sad!

THE HAMBURG ELECTION

Hamburg is not only a city; it is also a German State. They held their state election on February 20, the first of seven state elections this year. To quote Pres. Obama, Chancellor Merkel’s CDU took a real “shellacking”.

According to Reuters, “The rout, the party's worst post-war result, will cost the CDU three seats in the upper house, or Bundesrat.

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The unexpectedly large scope of the defeat may cause turbulence for Merkel and her conservatives at the national level with six further regional elections coming this year.

The CDU fell to 20.8 percent from 42.6 percent in the last election in 2008, according to an ARD TV projection. The drop of 21.8 points was the steepest decline ever between elections for the CDU and about five points worse than pollsters had forecast.

The opposition SPD won 49.8 percent of the vote, up from 34.1 percent in 2008, ARD public television said. The SPD was projected to win 64 seats in the Hamburg state assembly, three more than needed for an absolute majority.

It was the SPD's best result anywhere since 1994.

The loss of three seats in the Bundesrat, which represents Germany's states, will make it harder for Merkel's CDU-Free Democrats coalition to pass federal legislation.

All is not lost for the CDU, (The Local)” Local issues, however, featured heavily in the Hamburg campaign and surveys show the SPD's lead over the CDU in Hamburg is not replicated nationwide, where the conservatives remain the most popular party.

The next State election is in Baden-Württemberg on March 27, where the opposition hopes to unseat the CDU after 58 years in power. This is a “biggie” as B-W has 10.7 million inhabitants. Should the CDU lose this one, their national outlook would begin to look very dim.

NAMED AFTER WHOM?

My good friend Ruth Block in LA who in on top of issues in Germany long before I get to them, alerted me to the fact that there are a number of schools in Germany that are still named after Nazis. A quick look through the Internet produced a Spiegel On-Line story by Jan Friedmann which noted, “A new study shows that several German schools are still named after Nazis, including proponents of racial hygiene, rocket scientists and high-ranking party officials. But local authorities are often reluctant to change the names.

Among the roughly 2,000 schools in the state of Saxony alone, eight are named after Nazi party members, three after SA members, and one after an SS member.

Chemnitz historian Geralf Gemser. He's compiled the biographies of all the men and women with Nazi connections who are namesakes for schools in Saxony.

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When schools in Saxony and other parts of the former East Germany were renamed after the fall of the Berlin Wall, prominent locals -- some of whom had Nazi connections -- set out to scrap the names of Communist luminaries who had previously lent their names to schools, such as Socialist Unity Party General Secretary Walter Ulbricht and GDR President Wilhelm Pieck. But the Nazi names aren't just an eastern phenomenon. The West has its own dubious legacies, and Gemser estimates that the number of schools across Germany named after Nazi party members could be in the hundreds.

Gemser admits that schools are seldom named after "perpetrators in the legal sense of the word" -- in other words, Nazis who committed war crimes -- but he says schools should be careful. "With their names, schools occupy a place in a historical tradition, and Nazi supporters and functionaries should be excluded from that," he says. According to state regulations, school names should reflect educational ideals. Choosing names, however, is left to local authorities -- with unpredictable results.

The Gemser article has kicked off some criticism in Germany about how schools should be named and for whom. It is another example of the underlying legacy the Nazi past continues to impact upon every day life even in 21st Century Germany.

Read the entire Spiegel On-Line article by clicking here.http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,605223,00.html

”I WAS ONLY “HEILING” A CAB”

Germany is tough when it comes to its anti-Nazi laws. Giving the “Heil Hitler” salute is a punishable crime.

The Local reported, “(A) 30-year-old from Quebec was with a German friend when he posed in front of the parliamentary building and made the salute, according to daily Der Tagesspiegel on Sunday.

The German friend, a 29-year-old from the state of Lower Saxony, photographed him in the pose.

Making the salute is illegal in Germany – a fact widely known in Germany but often unknown abroad.

An investigation will now be undertaken against the Canadian for using an illegal symbolic gesture.

Berlin police officers confiscated the camera chip, but the man was released after posting bail.

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I hope the Canadian doesn’t get a long prison sentence. However, the message is clear – when greeting a friend in Germany who happens to be across the street, make sure you put your arm in a back and forth motion. Or, when trying to get a taxi driver’s attention you’d better try whistling.

Seriously though, Germany has these anti-Nazi laws for a reason. I, for one, would not be the one to tell them to get rid of them. They’ll know when.

THE GUTTENBERG PLAGIARISM SCANDAL

In the last edition I mentioned in passing that a scandal was brewing around the fact that German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had obviously used plagiarized material in the writing of his doctoral thesis. Since that time even he admitted “making serious mistakes” and asked that he be stripped of is Ph.D. title which the University of Bayreuth proceeded to do. There was a great deal of political pressure for him to resign and on March 1st he did so. A genuine fall from grace.

Guttenberg, who was Germany’s most popular politician, tried to maintain his Defense job and had received the backing of the CDU, CSU, the Chancellor and many conservative politicians. However, the academic community began to raise its voice and (DW-World) “In an open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel, thousands of Ph.D. students and graduates have reportedly labeled the plagiarism scandal involving Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg as a "mockery" of the research profession and doctoral process.

"The place of the sciences in Germany and the credibility of Germany as a country of ideas have suffered as a result of the trivial handling of the Guttenberg case," the letter said, according to the Hamburg Abendblatt newspaper

"Merkel's treatment of the plagiarism affair suggests that obtaining a doctorate through fraudulent means is a harmless crime," it added.

(Guttenberg) told a board meeting of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party, of which he is a leading member, that the affair has not affected his work as Germany's defense minister.

The debate has exposed cracks in the ruling coalition, with the head of the CSU, Horst Seehofer, coming down hard on comments on the matter made by Christian Democrat (CDU) Norbert Lammert, president of the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament.

Lammert was quoted by the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Monday as saying the Guttenberg affair was a "nail in the coffin for trust in our democracy."

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But Seehofer quickly shot down the remarks, labeling them immoderate. The CSU is the CDU's Bavarian sister party.

It had become a four star scandal too important to be papered over. So, Minister Guttenberg is now gone but only time will tell whether his departure concludes his political career forever. My guess is that it will not. Certainly his chances of becoming a Chancellor candidate any time soon have evaporated which is a blow to the CDU/CSU. However, the fact that he is of the nobility and that his wife is the great, great granddaughter of Bismarck may, in the final analysis outweigh all the negative factors. It would not surprise me if in a relatively brief period of time, after paying the proper public penance, he emerges once again with forgiveness and becomes a force in German politics. His popularity remains very high.

You can read the entire story by clicking here.http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6454809,00.html

Chancellor Merkel quickly filled the Defense position with Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. The Interior job was given to Hans-Peter Friedrich of the CSU. Both are experienced and close to Merkel. The Guttenberg scandal certainly did not help the Chancellor except that it removed a very well known and liked political figure who might have challenged Merkel somewhere down the line. The replacements do not have that kind of personality. Things in the CDU/CSU should quiet down but the star power of Guttenberg will surely be missed in the upcoming state elections.

Click here to read more.http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,748691,00.html

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See you again in late MarchDuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted by clicking here.

Both the American and Germany editions are posted at www.dubowdigest.typepad.com Click here to connect

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