2024-01-01 22:55:11
Who could have imagined such a twist in Germany’s complicated relationship with its dark past? There is growing pressure on the German government to free itself from the weight of blame, and it is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey that is trying to get Chancellor Olaf Scholz to make the change.
On a visit to Berlin in early November, the Turkish president told Scholz that Germany was too focused on its own regrets to understand the reality of the Middle East. Before his arrival in Germany, Erdoğan had questioned Israel’s legitimacy due to its “own fascism” and called Hamas terrorists “freedom fighters.”
Scholz firmly resisted calls to cancel Erdoğan’s visit, but before his arrival he made it clear that he considered the Turkish president’s view of the conflict “absurd.”
The awkwardness of that visit highlighted how complex navigating German foreign policy has become. With almost three million people of Turkish origin living in Germany, Erdoğan is fully aware of the influence he exerts on Berlin. Ankara provides the imams for some 1,000 mosques in Germany and Turkey is a key partner in NATO’s support for Ukraine, because of the drones it supplies and because it keeps the Black Sea open to grain exports. More importantly, Germany needs Turkey to control irregular immigration in the Mediterranean to avoid another refugee crisis.
The two leaders avoided a public confrontation in Berlin, but back in Ankara Erdoğan told his country’s media that German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier clearly had a “crusader mentality,” and that the same was true of “the other.” ”, in reference to Chancellor Scholz. Knowing Erdoğan’s disdain for the rules of diplomatic decorum, Scholz’s reaction to the comment was simply a shrug.
But the episode suggests a bigger problem. Germany’s pro-Israel stance, almost unconditional support, puts Berlin at odds with many of its key partners. Last year, Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck traveled to Qatar with the mission of acquiring liquefied natural gas (LNG) in large quantities to offset Russian gas under sanctions. Qatar is the main patron of Hamas and has large investments in German brands such as Volkswagen, Porsche, Siemens and Deutsche Bank.
That is not all. Scholz has been courting emerging powers from the so-called Global South, such as Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa, with the aim of reducing the risk and excessive dependence that the German economy has on China. Although these nations do not share a homogeneous stance on Hamas terrorism, they all view the Palestinian struggle through their own postcolonial history. In South Africa, Parliament even voted to close the Israeli embassy while its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, accused Israel of committing war crimes and acts “tantamount to genocide.”
The divisions between the West and the Global South became apparent when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and many of these countries refused to take sides. Israel’s war in Gaza now threatens to deepen these divisions. Germany’s stubborn insistence on Israel’s right to self-defense, even as Gaza is being devastated, is becoming increasingly difficult to defend.
A dangerous idea
What is behind the German position? Let’s say it clearly: the German political class is not a prisoner of a crippling way of thinking that is limiting its ability to speak out against Israel. That idea is a dangerous conspiracy theory that must be debunked.
The thesis that Germany is suffering from an overdose of coping with the past (the German term to refer to the Nazi past) is nothing new. The far right has been saying for decades that Germany is too politically limited due to national shame. The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) accuses culture of keeping alive the memory of being a sguilt cult (guilt cult). According to AfD, which nationwide accounts for 20% of the votes, the darkest aspects of the German past must be downplayed and focus on the positive side of its history.
What is surprising is that it is the other side of the political spectrum that is taking the hitherto right-wing stance of denying Germany’s historical responsibility. “Free Gaza from German guilt” has become a popular slogan among leftists demonstrating in Berlin in defense of the Palestinians. Things have to go wrong if there is an issue that unites the extreme right, the left and an autocrat who denies the Turkish genocide against the Armenians.
Let’s put it clearly: German politicians do not need to free themselves from history to know how to handle the debate over the Gaza war. It is a myth that Germany supports the Israeli government uncritically. During previous wars in Gaza, Germany publicly expressed concern when Israel overstepped its use of violence. Berlin has time and again criticized the expansion of settler settlements. More than a decade ago, the then Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel spoke of “apartheid” to refer to the situation in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. Berlin has given more than 1 billion euros to the Palestinian Authority and is one of the countries that has donated the most to UNWRA, the United Nations agency to help Palestinian refugees.
There was never any love between Merkel’s or Scholz’s government and Benjamin Netanyahu’s. Angela Merkel knew that Netanyahu was plotting behind her back with Donald Trump to end the Iran nuclear deal. She also knew that he was not sincere when he said that he accepted the two-state solution. In Berlin there is no one related to the Middle East issue who trusts Netanyahu. Politicians in Berlin roll their eyes when they hear that Israel has them in the palm of its hand.
What then explains Berlin’s stubborn support for Israel in the war against Hamas? We must look beyond the current crisis. The German foreign policy establishment has suffered a profound shock. In fact, it is the second after they realized in 2022 that it was not possible to appease Russia with diplomatic overtures, pipeline agreements and achieve “change through trade.”
The cornerstones of German foreign policy have collapsed.
The Germans, as Helmut Kohl said, were promised that they were “surrounded by friends,” and woke up without many tools to face a world of bitter enemies. In its attack on Ukraine, Russia shattered decades of German ostpolitik and, with it, the postwar European order.
Germany had also used diplomacy to manage Iran’s nuclear and regional ambitions. Berlin was one of the main sponsors of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Tehran. To save that deal, Germany even agreed not to include the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist organizations.
And then the Iranian axis of resistance in Gaza makes its appearance with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, locking the Jewish state between Hamas and Hezbollah in a pincer movement, and opening the possibility of a broader war. An existential crisis for Israel.
The cornerstones of German foreign policy have collapsed. The agreements with Russia and Iran have failed. Berlin’s view is that these two powers must be stopped, and that includes the destruction of Hamas. That is the reason for Germany’s unconditional support for Israel’s war against Hamas. But the deep distrust of Netanyahu remains. Also, the desire to see him out of office as soon as hostilities end.
Translation by Francisco de Zárate.
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