There will be elections in November this year. No one knows who the candidates are, no one knows what is on their programs, and hardly anyone will vote there. It should still be democratic. A president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany is elected, a public body in Germany which – according to its own statements – represents the interests of the Jewish community.
Joseph Schuster has been President of the Central Council since 2014 and was re-elected in November 2018. When I asked the Central Council where the programs of the candidates – assuming there were more than one – can be viewed, the answer was: “The President represents the Central Council of Jews in public and in relation to politics and society. In doing so, it acts in accordance with the tasks of the Central Council, but does not draw up its own program.” I was sent a link to the “About Us” part of the website, where the tasks of the Central Council a detail can be seen.
The Central Council does not represent all Jewish voices
Politically, these tasks can be interpreted very differently. Under the item “Representation of the interests of the Jewish communities” it says that “all Jews living in Germany” should have a vote with the Central Council. But was it a decision by the Central Council not to oppose the ban on demonstrations imposed on May 15, the so-called Nakba Day, against the left-wing Jewish organization Jewish Voice for Just Peace was imposed in Berlin?
As is well known, that voice, like many Palestinian voices that day, was silenced by the Berlin police. And the body that was supposed to take care of the voice of all Jews living in Germany did nothing about it. Non-Zionist Jews make up a larger proportion of the community than one might think. Many of them are against nationalism. Just like many Germans or French.
In Jewish orthodoxy, too, there are numerous tendencies that oppose the use of state and military force. Some Jews also take an anti-colonial position, some take Zionism for colonialism. Does the Central Council of Jews in Germany simply not want to hear such voices? Or at least defend them when they are silenced by Berlin judges and police officers?
The scope of work is unclear
In the area of tasks, it is said that the Central Council supports the work of the “national associations organized within it, the Jewish communities and the Central Welfare Office of Jews in Germany (ZWST).” The ZWST supported refugees from Ukraine. At the same time, the president, who is only supposed to act “in the interests of the Central Council”, claimed at the time that refugees from Syria brought anti-Semitism with them, so an upper limit was needed. But refugees from Ukraine are helped. Their anti-Semitic tendencies, if any, have apparently already been checked and found to be kosher. One thing is certain: the position of President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany is a political one.
While neo-Nazis can march in Dresden and lateral thinkers spread anti-Semitic theories and Holocaust trivialization on Telegram groups, the police in Berlin are arresting people who are carrying a Palestinian flag. One wonders who exactly this is supposed to help. Us Jews?
When I asked who could stand for election and who was entitled to vote in these elections, I was told that the council and the board of directors of the central council elected the members of the presidency. When asked how that council was formed, I was referred back to the same answer. Of course, if this position were purely a civil service post, all of this would make sense. But it is not just bureaucratic, it is also political.
Another example: One of the media organs of the Central Council is the Jewish General. The newspaper takes clear political positions. For example, there are always texts that polemicize against left-wing Israelis in Berlin and sometimes even accuse them of anti-Semitism. A little reminder at this point: According to the website of the Central Council, left-wing Israelis are also “Jews living in Germany”.
The voting procedure should be public
If the office of head of the Central Council is a political body – if the Central Council of Jews in Germany intervenes in matters such as refugee policy, freedom of expression and foreign policy towards Israel – then the election procedure of such a body must also be public. As a Jew living in Germany, I should have the opportunity to state clearly that I find the current political orientation of the ZJD negative.
Perhaps we need a central council to condemn posters like those of Marcel Goldhammer, a direct candidate for the AfD in Neukölln, which read the motto “Jews, but normal”. That would actually be something that affects all Jews living in Germany – instead of persecuting artists in the context of the Documenta just because they come from Ramallah and speak out against the Israeli army on their streets.
All these issues should be negotiated in the form of an open debate. After all, these are political elections and a political position. Jewish people in Germany should not feel represented by a non-public election – even if they agree politically with Joseph Schuster.
After the author submitted this text, the Central Council of Jews did not want to comment further on the subject.