Days after Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was one of the first Western leaders to arrive in Tel Aviv.
Standing beside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, he declared that Germany had “only one place — and it is alongside Israel.”That place now feels increasingly awkward for Germany, Israel’s second-largest arms supplier, and a nation whose leadership calls support for the country a “Staatsraison,” a national reason for existence, as a way of atoning for the Holocaust.
Last week, with Israel’s deadly offensive continuing in Gaza, the chancellor again stood next to Mr. Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, and struck a different tone. “No matter how important the goal,” he asked, “can it justify such terribly high costs?”With international outrage growing over a death toll that Gazan health authorities say exceeds 32,000, and the looming prospect of famine in the enclave, German officials have begun to question whether their country’s support has gone too far.
“What changed for Germany is that it’s untenable, this unconditional support for Israel,” said Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin. “In sticking to this notion of Staatsraison, they gave the false impression that Germany actually offered carte blanche to Netanyahu.”
But this week, Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said she would be sending a delegation to Israel because as a signatory…
Read moreNetanyahu is taking advantage of the historic traumas of his people and, until now, unwavering support without questions that has been extended by many other countries.
I don’t think Israel should not defend itself, but I also don’t think the scorched earth tactics toward an entire group of people is the right answer by any stretch.
I sure hope that those who keep netanyahu in power can see that he is not making Israel or the rest of the world safer. He’s just keeping himself in power and out of jail at any cost.
Israelis, palestinians, and the rest of the world deserve better.
This is pretty significant. Not even a month ago the German government was talking about further restricting speech on a range of things that it deemed 'anti-Israel'. But more and more everyday Germans have had enough; the tragedy unfolding in Gaza cannot and is not being ignored.
What amazes me is that the Israelis actually believe that they can destroy Hamas. Even if they ‘finish the job’ don’t they realise that their actions are the best possible recruitment drive for Hamas and that it will come back bigger and stronger than ever? Clearly not. Until the Israelis accept that they have to share the territory with the Palestine people (on an equal rights basis), as they had done until 1948, there will never be peace.
@R3publicScarlettSocialist2mos2MO
The University of Michigan is currently attempting to implement a policy that severely limits protesting and advocacy on campus. Employees of the University including students are now required to report any pro-Palestinian movement on campus - students turning in their roomates (sound like McCarthyism?). We need be honest with ourselves about Israel, and what it is doing to our own country, our freedoms, our humanity.
Why has it taken them so long? There guilt from last century has blinded them. They should have been the first out of the gate to warn Israel. The stench of what Netanyahu has done will linger throughout history.
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
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