A few weeks ago I took part as a panelist at the “Hijacking Memory” conference in the House of World Cultures. The conference, which addressed the instrumentalization of Holocaust remembrance and the role of the new right, was one of the most exciting and profound conferences I have experienced to date. However, the Central Council of Jews in Germany reacted to them with a predictable Pavlovian reaction: accusations of anti-Semitism and BDS support quickly surfaced.
The HKW conference is not an isolated case. In the past few years and months, various things have happened in Germany that have repeatedly challenged the Jewish-Israeli-German discourse. The Jewish writer Max Czollek, whose voice did not suit the conservative chorus of the Central Council, was heavily criticized because he is not Jewish on his mother’s side, and his Jewish identity itself was questioned.
The director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, Peter Schäfer, a respected Judaist, was also forced to resign because the JMB Twitter account recommended a taz article. The article spoke out against the BDS resolution of the German Bundestag that was passed in the same year. At the height of the refugee crisis in Germany, there were voices in the Central Council calling for the government to set an upper limit for the admission of refugees because of “ethnic difficulties”.
This delegitimization campaign is currently aimed at some of the most important research and cultural institutions in Germany and the world, including the Einstein Forum and the Center for Research on Antisemitism (ZfA). Daniel Botmann, Managing Director of the Central Council, indirectly described the latter as an institution for anti-Semitism. In this way, an attempt is made to intimidate important institutes and excellent researchers whose only fault is to conduct universally oriented research. Anyone who dares to express a different opinion risks public character assassination.
The Right shapes the positions of the Central Council
Israel is currently governed by a right-wing conservative ideology, which is determined by settlers and ultra-Orthodox as well as by xenophobic, homophobic and also Christian forces. These are groups that exert every imaginable pressure to divert Israel from its liberal-democratic path. They are steering the so-called only democracy in the Middle East into a realm of religious fundamentalism.
The task of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, in turn, is to represent all Jews living there, even if in practice it only speaks for a part of them. The Central Council manages the emotional side of German-Jewish history and anti-Semitism to a certain extent. In many ways this is logical and reasonable in order to avert a repeat of the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust. But few understand the deeper connections: right-wing and extreme right-wing forces control Israel’s politics. And Israel shapes the positions of the Central Council. In other words, the conservative and racist wing of the Israeli right indirectly manages Germany’s feelings about Jews, anti-Semitism and Israel.
How could this happen? Israel has turned anti-Semitism into a powerful political tool. Our conservative governments have steadily expanded this concept. Accordingly, any criticism of Israel is equal to anti-Semitism, every political opponent is an enemy, every enemy is equal to Hitler and every year is 1938. To a certain extent, this is the consciousness infrastructure of Israeli politics. Germany plays a key role here: to sanction the injustices committed by Israelis in the present – like a kind of historical-political kashrut certificate.
Germany, for its part, fears any confrontation with Israel over how contemporary anti-Semitism is defined and what an appropriate critique of Israel’s sometimes illegitimate policies might look like. In its inaction, Germany has thus paved the way for a reality in which Palestinians have no rights and no status in their own homeland. As long as Germany is so biased, there will never be peace in the Middle East. Israel will not be able to survive like this either.
Holocaust and Israel are part of German identity
The Holocaust and Israel are, and must remain, crucial elements of Germany’s political and ethical identity. But not like that. The mechanism that turns the Holocaust and its memory into a political tool to reject any criticism of Israel has now assumed plain cynical proportions.
It’s true, no country on earth is perfect. Hardly any democracies are without problems. But there is no other country that counts itself in the democratic West, which is currently denying millions of people the right to vote or be elected and to exercise the right to self-determination in their own country – as Israel does to the Palestinian people. Israel can only do so so boldly because the United States has taken a clear line on this and because Germany blindly supports just about any Israeli whim.
There is real anti-Semitism in the world that we absolutely cannot understand: part of it is the old, traditional anti-Semitism. And partly a mutation of that propagated by certain anti-Israel groups: they use the crime of occupation to attack all Jews as Jews and to deny their existence as individuals and as a community.
A new form of pro-Israel anti-Semitism
But a third form of anti-Semitism is also gaining momentum: one that disguises its xenophobia and hatred of immigrants under the guise of ardent support for Israel. It is the anti-Semitism of fascists and neo-Nazis who “love” Israel. Amazingly, even some decent Germans and even some Jews support this anti-Semitism – under the cloak of their love for Israel.
There is another way to combat the anti-Semitism simmering in Germany and around the world. That would require more consideration overall. An awareness that it is permissible to criticize Israel, just as it is permissible to defend Israel. At the same time, the fight against real anti-Semitism must no longer be just a Jewish problem.
Rather, an alliance should be formed against all forms of hate – on a local and global level. It could be put something like this: if someone hates Turks, they hate me too. Whoever harms Muslims also harms me. Whoever persecutes immigrants, women and representatives of the LGBTQ+ community also persecutes me. This is the true face of Judaism, from the Bible to Martin Buber: a civilization that has never ignored its universal obligations to all other human beings.
Why we need new alliances
Ultimately, the fight against anti-Semitism must not stand alone. Only through cooperative solidarity with other victims of hate can we defeat the populist haters. In this struggle, Jews and Germans play a strategically very important role. After all: Germany is a key to the western world. It’s a shame it’s currently being led by an irresponsible bunch who don’t seem able to tell light from dark.
As a former Knesset speaker and chairman of the World Zionist Organization, I appeal to the German government – and to the President of the Central Council Josef Schuster: choose a time and a place where we can discuss together how the Holocaust is thought of in the 21st century how we can avoid using it for wrong political purposes. And how we represent Jews and Judaism today.
Let’s discuss how we can create a world where Israel would be a role model for conflict resolution – rather than a role model for illiberal populists.
A version of this article appeared in the Israeli daily time. Translated from the Hebrew by Hanno Hauenstein.