Ahlulbayt News Agency: Germany's unconditioned support for Israel and its double standard towards the pains of Palestinians have decreased the country's soft influence in West Asia.
Germany tried for several decades to make Israel reconcile with Arabs. Thus, it succeeded to gain a notable soft influence and be known as a mediator in commercial and economic relations in the region.
But, conditions in West Asia have changed: supports for the Palestinian resistance is highly on the rise and many Arabs consider Israeli attack on Gaza as "genocidal war" and condemn it.
Germany, with the ghost of holocaust hovering above its head, at first supported the Israeli attack on Gaza. Therefore, Berlin's decisive and anti-humanitarian reaction in the beginning of al-Aqsa Storm and the war in Gaza damaged the country's global credit more than ever.
Five days after October 7, 2023 and the start of operation al-Aqsa Storm, Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany, in a speech explicitly determined his country's policy towards the new war in Gaza and said, "At this moment, there remains only one position for Germany: beside Israel."
Till November 2023, Germany nearly increased tenfold the arms export license to Israel. Now, after the US, it has turned into the second arms supplier to Israel since the war started in Gaza.
The biased conduct of Germany towards Israel reached to the point that in some of the Arab countries like Tunisia, protests were held against Berlin's support for the child-killer Israeli regime.
Last year in October, the remarks of the German envoy to Tunisia, Peter Prügel, during inauguration of a high school in the outskirts of the capital city stirred up a brawl.
During the ceremony, the Tunisian minister of education announced solidarity with Gaza, while the German ambassador called Israelis "victims"!!!
A few days later, Tunisian protesters gathered in front of the German embassy, calling for resignation of the German diplomat.
The German blind support for Israel has seriously tarnished the image of many institutes of the country in West Asia. In this regard, Foreign Policy magazine has done interviews with 9 of the personnel of 6 German institutes in the region.
The interviewees believe that Germany's adamant and strict stance towards the war in Gaza has imperiled their job situation with their partners and local communities.
German employees with good record in West Asia admit that the occupation of the West Bank by Israel is an obvious example of apartheid and the German foreign policy is distant from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
They say that it is quite common to use the terms like "apartheid" and "genocide" by their colleagues about Israel's behavior towards Palestinians.
This is while, the German government has rejected apartheid and genocide and considers them as "anti-Semitic".
Some of the employees of GIZ (Agency of International Cooperation of Germany) have also told Foreign Policy that Germany's collaboration with Israel in the war has caused fury and hatred inside the agency.
In the same respect, many German organizations working in West Asia have cancelled public events secretly to safeguard their personnel's identity and life and that of their partners. They have also postponed the publication of reports and omitted their logo from the projects supporting Israel.
According to the opinion poll of the Arab Center Washington DC in 2020, the majority of Arab people maintained a positive view of the German foreign policy. But, another opinion poll by Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in 2023 revealed that %75 of the respondents in 16 Arab countries have maintained a negative view of Germany in the heat of the Gaza war.
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Germany tried for several decades to make Israel reconcile with Arabs. Thus, it succeeded to gain a notable soft influence and be known as a mediator in commercial and economic relations in the region.
But, conditions in West Asia have changed: supports for the Palestinian resistance is highly on the rise and many Arabs consider Israeli attack on Gaza as "genocidal war" and condemn it.
Germany, with the ghost of holocaust hovering above its head, at first supported the Israeli attack on Gaza. Therefore, Berlin's decisive and anti-humanitarian reaction in the beginning of al-Aqsa Storm and the war in Gaza damaged the country's global credit more than ever.
Five days after October 7, 2023 and the start of operation al-Aqsa Storm, Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany, in a speech explicitly determined his country's policy towards the new war in Gaza and said, "At this moment, there remains only one position for Germany: beside Israel."
Till November 2023, Germany nearly increased tenfold the arms export license to Israel. Now, after the US, it has turned into the second arms supplier to Israel since the war started in Gaza.
The biased conduct of Germany towards Israel reached to the point that in some of the Arab countries like Tunisia, protests were held against Berlin's support for the child-killer Israeli regime.
Last year in October, the remarks of the German envoy to Tunisia, Peter Prügel, during inauguration of a high school in the outskirts of the capital city stirred up a brawl.
During the ceremony, the Tunisian minister of education announced solidarity with Gaza, while the German ambassador called Israelis "victims"!!!
A few days later, Tunisian protesters gathered in front of the German embassy, calling for resignation of the German diplomat.
The German blind support for Israel has seriously tarnished the image of many institutes of the country in West Asia. In this regard, Foreign Policy magazine has done interviews with 9 of the personnel of 6 German institutes in the region.
The interviewees believe that Germany's adamant and strict stance towards the war in Gaza has imperiled their job situation with their partners and local communities.
German employees with good record in West Asia admit that the occupation of the West Bank by Israel is an obvious example of apartheid and the German foreign policy is distant from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
They say that it is quite common to use the terms like "apartheid" and "genocide" by their colleagues about Israel's behavior towards Palestinians.
This is while, the German government has rejected apartheid and genocide and considers them as "anti-Semitic".
Some of the employees of GIZ (Agency of International Cooperation of Germany) have also told Foreign Policy that Germany's collaboration with Israel in the war has caused fury and hatred inside the agency.
In the same respect, many German organizations working in West Asia have cancelled public events secretly to safeguard their personnel's identity and life and that of their partners. They have also postponed the publication of reports and omitted their logo from the projects supporting Israel.
According to the opinion poll of the Arab Center Washington DC in 2020, the majority of Arab people maintained a positive view of the German foreign policy. But, another opinion poll by Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in 2023 revealed that %75 of the respondents in 16 Arab countries have maintained a negative view of Germany in the heat of the Gaza war.
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