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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/02/MN63272.DTL ---------------------------------------------- Thursday, May 2, 2002 (SF Chronicle) Israel rapidly losing friends in Germany/Most want to end countries' 'special relationship' because of actions against Palestinians Eric Geiger, Chronicle Foreign Service Munich -- The denizens of the working-class bar briefly interrupted their card game to watch dramatic images flash across a television screen -- Israeli tanks rumbling past collapsed Palestinian buildings in the West Bank. "Just look at what the Israelis are doing to the poor Palestinians, and they have the nerve to lecture us about what Germany did years ago in the last war," one of the men said. His fellow cardplayers and other patrons in the smoke-filled bar noisily agreed. Such spontaneous outbursts reflect the almost hysterical anti-Israel sentiment that has gripped Germany in reaction to Israel's military operation in the West Bank. According to a nationwide poll by the Emnid organization, 73 percent opposed the offensive. More significantly, another poll cited by the newsmagazine Der Spiegel showed that most Germans want an end to the "special relationship" between Germany and Israel. Support for Israel has been a cornerstone of successive governments since the end of World War II and has long been regarded as a solemn obligation emanating from the Holocaust. In an unprecedented chorus of denunciations against Israel, the German media and leading politicians from the center-right opposition are clearly questioning that tilt. The phenomenon has brought warnings by some political analysts of a resurgence of anti-Semitism against Germany's estimated 90,000 Jews. Juergen Moellemann, the deputy chairman of the opposition moderate-right Free Democratic Party and head of the German-Arab Society, has been especially critical. "I would resist, too, and use force in doing so," he said in regard to Palestinian violence. "I would (commit violence) not just in my own country but in the country of the aggressor." SHARON'S 'WAR OF ANNIHILATION' In a widely publicized letter to Israel's ambassador to Germany, Norbert Bluem, a prominent Christian Democrat member of Parliament, used a term reserved for Nazi war crimes in accusing the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of waging "an unrestrained war of annihilation." He also suggested that the time has come to break the unofficial "taboo" of not criticizing Israel. But some observers say there is more to the sudden eruption of anti-Israeli sentiment than the military operation in the West Bank. It "does not primarily have anything to do with Israel but with the German attitude toward their own history," said Israeli Ambassador Shimon Stein. "It has to do with German unification and the growing up of another generation, which has another view of Germany's role in the world. . . . The younger ones want to bid farewell to history." Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, wants Moellemann, Bluem and other high-profile politicians to be more cautious when equating the Mideast conflict with the Nazis' crimes. "No people can stand what the Israeli must endure these days," he said. "Every day terror, every day death." Spiegel, noting an increase in the number of insults and threats against Jewish groups in Germany, said, "Many are camouflaging their anti-Jewish aggressiveness as criticism of Israel." RIDDING THEMSELVES OF GUILT Some Germans share Spiegel's viewpoint. "Many Germans resent that the Jews won't stop reminding them of having tried to destroy them. Gleefully and with pious delight, they are now pouncing on what they had otherwise regarded as unassailable," said a recent editorial in the prominent conservative daily Die Welt. "The widespread agreement of many of our compatriots with the views of . . . Moellemann and Bluem betrays German satisfaction at finally being able to rid themselves of their own guilt." Moellemann continues to make headlines. He recently invited Syrian-born legislator Jamal Karlsi to join his party. Karlsi, an admirer of Saddam Hussein, had been censured by the Green Party for accusing the Israeli army of using Nazi tactics, maltreating innocent Palestinian youths held in prison camps and reportedly suggesting that German troops be sent against Israel. While there have been some reports that Germany is quietly curbing weapons sales to Israel, the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has avoided public criticism of Israel -- with one notable exception, Minister of Development Heidemarie Weiczorek-Zeul. "The reports about the Israeli troop conduct are shocking," she said. "We must never turn a blind eye again when injustice is being done." LITTLE COVERAGE OF ISRAELI DEATHS The news media also have played a prominent role in casting Israel as aggressors and Palestinians as victims. Der Spiegel has mused that German television may have contributed to the changing mood against Israel. In recent weeks, media observers say there have been few references to the wave of suicide bombings and the deaths of 400 Israelis that have terrorized Israel since the start of the intifada 18 months ago. In contrast, extensive footage has been dedicated to Israeli tanks rumbling through Palestinian towns, the seemingly defenseless civilians being shot down and ambulances being barred from reaching the severely wounded. Also, both television and newspapers have given a heroine's welcome to Sophia Deeg, a 50-year-old Munich teacher who acted as a human shield for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at his Ramallah compound. Since being deported by the Israelis, she has been a media darling and was even introduced as a woman of exceptional courage on a nationally televised talk show. "Criticism of the Israeli government certainly is no sacrilege, but it should be objective and based on fact," said Jewish community leader Spiegel. "Most of the German media is strongly biased against Israel and condemns Israeli actions while ignoring Palestinian terror and its victims." Meanwhile, Germany's relatively small Jewish community fears the spreading anti-Israel sentiment may inspire anti-Semitic violence. "When I hear those men, Moellemann and Bluem, saying those horrible things, cold shivers run down my spine," said Rebeca Mandl, a 78-year-old concentration camp survivor who now lives near Munich. To date, Germany has been spared such violence as the firebombing of synagogues in France and Belgium. But anti-Semitic incidents are increasing, including attacks on two Jewish Americans in Berlin recently, the beating of a young Jewish woman in a Berlin subway station, and the desecration of Jewish grave sites and memorials in some German cities. Just Sunday, unknown assailants threw a Molotov cocktail at a Berlin synagogue, but they caused no damage. "The drastically worsened basic mood against Jews has created some fear," Spiegel said. "There is a feeling that the danger is coming closer." As a result, the government has stepped up security around synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. And last week, Schroeder and his conservative opposition voiced their firm solidarity with Israel during a speech to the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament. Schroeder said his government would not take part in any embargo or boycott against Israel. "This would be unthinkable in view of our historical responsibility," he said. --------------------------- Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle http:/www.sfgate.com ===== Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. Weekly peace walks around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Starts & ends at the colonnade between Grand & Lakeshore Avenues, 3 P.M., every Sunday. Info: (510)763-8712, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
