AhlulBayt News Agency: When Angela Merkel became the German chancellor in 2005 and was in power for 16 years, the green-red government ended. Merkel made it clear in a speech at the Israeli parliament in 2008 that, "This historical mission is part of the national interests of my country."
For five months after October 7, 2023, the world witnessed in horror how Germany abused holocaust as a weapon to quell any criticism against the Israeli war in Gaza. The German government's behavior in this crisis was no different from that of the United States. In other words, both countries sent weapons to the Israeli regime and supported Israel at the International Court of Justice against South Africa. As for the domestic scene, however, Germany went beyond to the extent that it behaved more aggressively and repressively against the protesters, artists and thinkers who announced their solidarity and sympathy with the people of Palestine. Due to the mission that holocaust had imposed on Germany, these measures have feigned a display of morality.
While much attention has been drawn to these special types of suppression, few people have embarked on the process of formation and development of the culture of holocaust remembrance in Germany. Germany is considered by many in the US as a pioneer country where the culture of holocaust remembrance has been institutionalized to the extent of unconditional support for Israel. But, the reality is more complicated. This culture of remembrance was fixed in the political structure of the Federal Republic of Germany. Nevertheless, for the past two decades, this culture has been decayed and Germany has turned, from acceptance of this mission towards mankind, to restriction of it to Israel.
The main part of this guilt lies with Angela Merkel who took the helms of German policy for almost two decades. But, it should be noted that, during this period, aligned political powers built up an unexpected alliance between the German leftist moderates and the rightist faction in the US and Israel. Today, the German coalition government, is composed of Social-Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats. According to Neiman, the stances of this government towards Israel are in a way that they seem "more supportive and conservative than those of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)."
When Angela Merkel became the German chancellor in 2005 and was in power for 16 years, the green-red government ended. Merkel stressed in a speech in 2008, which was the first speech of a German chancellor at the Israeli parliament, that all her predecessors had been aware of Germany's special mission towards the Israeli security. She made it clear, "This historical mission is part of the national interests of my country."
Adopting such a stance by Merkel was clearly affected by the German Ambassador to Tel Aviv, "Rudolf Dressler" in 2000-2005. Dressler had written in an article in 2005, "Israel's security is part of our national interests."
Although this sentence had mainly been adopted from Joschka Fishcer, according to the reports of Spiegel, Merkel's aides considered it more appropriate than their own "Christian-Democratic speech style". Merkel's this move, known as "irreplaceable" policy, practically expelled the German policy towards Israel from the Democratic rivalry circle and, in the words of the historian Jürgen Zimmer, turned this policy into an "unconditional" principle.
Merkel was successful in this regard: Almost all political parties in Germany had agreed on this issue that the mission towards Israel is one of the principles of national interests of the country. In 2021, the new coalition government, composed of Social-Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats, published an agreement which contained a famous phrase, "Israel's security is part of our national interests."
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, only 10 days after October 7, 2023, traveled to the Occupied Territories and repeated this statement once again, while Israel had already dropped thousands of tons of bombs over Gaza. Since Merkel's stepping down, criticisms have increased against her foreign policy heritage, especially with regards to prioritization of economic interests to security in the face of China and Russia. But, the post-October 3 events revealed that Merkel's heritage for the German foreign policy towards Israel has also acted destructively. In 2009, one year after her speech at the Israeli parliament (Knesset), Netanyahu came to power once again, hence, Israel was more inclined to the far-right faction. Now, Germany is either unable or unwilling to criticize Israel, even when Israel expels Palestinians from their territories and bombs them.
Prominent leaders of the Green Party, including Annalena Baerbock, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Robert Habeck, Minister of Economy, are among the most serious supporters of Israel and harshest critics of anti-Zionism, empathy and support for Palestine.
The media company, Springer, has recently forged files against the critics of Israel. One of these critics was Nemi al-Hassan, Palestinian-German journalist, who was finally fired from the German state TV, ZDF. The personnel of Springer are forced to sign a declaration in support for Israel. In one of the German states, support for Israel has been considered as the condition for citizenship and other states are also trying to put this plan in action, as if all German citizens were the employees of Springer.
Last year, German daily Die Zeit published the leaked out e-mails of Springer CEO, Mathias Döpfner which exposed his political views. One of his e-mails ended with a horrible and weird sentence, "Zionism is more important than everything." This sentence properly describes the political consensus that has been shaped in Germany during the recent decades.
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For five months after October 7, 2023, the world witnessed in horror how Germany abused holocaust as a weapon to quell any criticism against the Israeli war in Gaza. The German government's behavior in this crisis was no different from that of the United States. In other words, both countries sent weapons to the Israeli regime and supported Israel at the International Court of Justice against South Africa. As for the domestic scene, however, Germany went beyond to the extent that it behaved more aggressively and repressively against the protesters, artists and thinkers who announced their solidarity and sympathy with the people of Palestine. Due to the mission that holocaust had imposed on Germany, these measures have feigned a display of morality.
While much attention has been drawn to these special types of suppression, few people have embarked on the process of formation and development of the culture of holocaust remembrance in Germany. Germany is considered by many in the US as a pioneer country where the culture of holocaust remembrance has been institutionalized to the extent of unconditional support for Israel. But, the reality is more complicated. This culture of remembrance was fixed in the political structure of the Federal Republic of Germany. Nevertheless, for the past two decades, this culture has been decayed and Germany has turned, from acceptance of this mission towards mankind, to restriction of it to Israel.
The main part of this guilt lies with Angela Merkel who took the helms of German policy for almost two decades. But, it should be noted that, during this period, aligned political powers built up an unexpected alliance between the German leftist moderates and the rightist faction in the US and Israel. Today, the German coalition government, is composed of Social-Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats. According to Neiman, the stances of this government towards Israel are in a way that they seem "more supportive and conservative than those of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)."
When Angela Merkel became the German chancellor in 2005 and was in power for 16 years, the green-red government ended. Merkel stressed in a speech in 2008, which was the first speech of a German chancellor at the Israeli parliament, that all her predecessors had been aware of Germany's special mission towards the Israeli security. She made it clear, "This historical mission is part of the national interests of my country."
Adopting such a stance by Merkel was clearly affected by the German Ambassador to Tel Aviv, "Rudolf Dressler" in 2000-2005. Dressler had written in an article in 2005, "Israel's security is part of our national interests."
Although this sentence had mainly been adopted from Joschka Fishcer, according to the reports of Spiegel, Merkel's aides considered it more appropriate than their own "Christian-Democratic speech style". Merkel's this move, known as "irreplaceable" policy, practically expelled the German policy towards Israel from the Democratic rivalry circle and, in the words of the historian Jürgen Zimmer, turned this policy into an "unconditional" principle.
Merkel was successful in this regard: Almost all political parties in Germany had agreed on this issue that the mission towards Israel is one of the principles of national interests of the country. In 2021, the new coalition government, composed of Social-Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats, published an agreement which contained a famous phrase, "Israel's security is part of our national interests."
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, only 10 days after October 7, 2023, traveled to the Occupied Territories and repeated this statement once again, while Israel had already dropped thousands of tons of bombs over Gaza. Since Merkel's stepping down, criticisms have increased against her foreign policy heritage, especially with regards to prioritization of economic interests to security in the face of China and Russia. But, the post-October 3 events revealed that Merkel's heritage for the German foreign policy towards Israel has also acted destructively. In 2009, one year after her speech at the Israeli parliament (Knesset), Netanyahu came to power once again, hence, Israel was more inclined to the far-right faction. Now, Germany is either unable or unwilling to criticize Israel, even when Israel expels Palestinians from their territories and bombs them.
Prominent leaders of the Green Party, including Annalena Baerbock, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Robert Habeck, Minister of Economy, are among the most serious supporters of Israel and harshest critics of anti-Zionism, empathy and support for Palestine.
The media company, Springer, has recently forged files against the critics of Israel. One of these critics was Nemi al-Hassan, Palestinian-German journalist, who was finally fired from the German state TV, ZDF. The personnel of Springer are forced to sign a declaration in support for Israel. In one of the German states, support for Israel has been considered as the condition for citizenship and other states are also trying to put this plan in action, as if all German citizens were the employees of Springer.
Last year, German daily Die Zeit published the leaked out e-mails of Springer CEO, Mathias Döpfner which exposed his political views. One of his e-mails ended with a horrible and weird sentence, "Zionism is more important than everything." This sentence properly describes the political consensus that has been shaped in Germany during the recent decades.
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