In your new book Talking about Israel – A German Debate (Kiepenheuer & Witsch) you say that whoever talks about Israel should forget that Israel came into being after Auschwitz – and never forget it. Will that be forgotten?
No, I don’t think it will be forgotten. What I mean by that: Every German debate about Israel takes place against the backdrop of the past. However, this backdrop should not prevent us from taking a sober look at the political situation in Israel. Granted, that’s a challenge. The German culture of remembrance does not dictate how to deal with Israel. This has to be constantly renegotiated in society and politics.
A second dispute between historians is currently being discussed, which deals with the question of whether the Holocaust and colonialism are comparable. What does Israel have to do with it?
In my view, the current debate is only superficially about more remembrance of German colonial crimes. What it’s actually about: to place the Holocaust as just a crime alongside other crimes against humanity in order to end Israel’s privileged position – à la Merkel’s reason of state.
You mention Angela Merkel, who in 2008 declared Israel’s security to be a reason of state in the Knesset due to Germany’s historical responsibility. How do you feel about this sentence? Isn’t he a bit pompous? When it comes to Israel’s security, I don’t think we, as Israeli citizens, would rely on the Germans.
This sentence raises questions for me. Is that a promise that can ever be kept? What does reason of state actually mean? Merkel said at the time that all of her predecessors as Federal Chancellor were already committed to Israel’s security. But that’s not true. It was she who first engraved the concept of raison d’état into the official language of the Federal Republic. Since then, however, this key term has appeared in every relevant political statement, be it in the coalition agreement, in the BDS decision or in the speeches of German officials in Israel. The term has multiplied in a way without anyone knowing exactly what it means. Reason of state is a pre-democratic concept and comes from Machiavelli. It means that the ruler dictates to the people what they should think. In this sense, you both have to accept what Ms. Merkel said. That should be the attitude that one has to accept unquestioningly.
And the exciting question remains, what exactly does that mean?
Correct. Does that mean the Bundeswehr will soon be at the Wailing Wall? That we send soldiers to Jerusalem? Is this subject to conditions? And which Israel is meant? We are witnessing that the country is at a crossroads. Should the government actually implement its plans, we would soon be dealing with a country that is no longer a liberal democracy. For all these reasons, I have great problems with Israel being given some kind of blank check with this term.
because dhat consequences?
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