Germany and Israel

Born in Frankfurt in 1925, Alfred Grosser was eight years old when he and his Jewish family fled from the Nazis to France. He spent most of his life in Paris, where he still lives. As a political scientist he has been observing developments in Germany during the past 60 years and has also been a harsh and vociferous critic of Israeli politics.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle earlier this month he described himself as pro-Palestinian "because the Palestinians are despised, are occupied and I think that the majority of Israel's citizens despise Palestinians." And he adds: "That is the central theme of my book, that any human being should be respected."

Germany too cautious with Israel

Germany, Grosser argues, is not critical enough of Israel. He gives an example: when German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the Knesset, she didn't mention the Palestinians. "She spoke as if she were a member of the Likud (party)," Grosser says. When French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the Israeli parliament, he spoke a different language "saying a friend should speak the truth; the truth is that you should negotiate with the Palestinians, that you should stop colonization," Grosser says.

Michel Friedman, former vice-president of the Central Council of the Jews in Germany, who is equally outspoken in his views and does not necessarily represent those of the Jewish community in Germany, disagrees. "Germany is a partner of the European Middle East policy," the lawyer and journalist told Deutsche Welle. "The German politicians, including Angela Merkel, are saying that Germany is wishing that a Palestinian state would be created."

And yet Grosser believes that German politicians are too cautious when dealing with Israel. "From the German side they don't say anything because of Auschwitz," he says. "When the Israelis want something from the Germans, they like to remind them of Auschwitz."

Friedman admits that this may have happened in the past, but that it has nothing to do with today's German-Israeli relations: "I think that Mr. Grosser has a personal problem. This statement proves that he is not any more on today's level. The relationship between all German governments and all Israeli governments is very open-minded. There is criticism from time to time, like about what today's Israeli government is doing with the new settlements. I believe that this criticism is correct. Israel reacts, arguing why they are doing this, but never arguing that Germany can't say things like that because of the Holocaust and Auschwitz."

To pay or not to pay

But Grosser gives a current example to illustrate his thesis: "Germany is now considering paying for the next Israeli submarine. They have already paid for five submarines. It will be the sixth one. Why should Germany pay?"

Friedman says Grosser's arguments are too narrow in scope: "This has nothing to do with Auschwitz and the Holocaust. If you take into consideration that a lot of terrorist and dictatorial countries in the Arab world are also getting a lot of arms, I don't seen any problem why Germany would not be able to consider such an armament relationship. Why not?"

Comparing the Holocaust

In his book Grosser also seeks to break with a taboo by rejecting the incomparability of the Holocaust with any other genocide. In order to prove something is unique, you must compare, he argues: "You have to compare it with Mao Tse Tung, you have to compare it with the death of millions of Ukrainians killed by Stalin."

To Friedman, the Holocaust remains incomparable with any other atrocity: "There is certainly a difference between what we define as a genocide and what the Shoah, the Holocaust was. The Holocaust was a strategic decision of a government to destroy to the last person a people, not because of a war, not because of any conflict, but by definition that these people are not humans, the Jews."

Grosser admits that the Holocaust was exceptional "because Jews were hunted because they were Jews." But, he adds, "60 years later they can write about it, they can speak about it, they can publish about it. The poor people in Cambodia, who were killed, they cannot do that. And there is a kind of racism in saying, we are specific, but the mass murder in Cambodia is something different. There is a point of racism in this consideration."

Grosser sees himself as a humanist and defender of human rights in the first place. He is of Jewish origin, but not of Jewish religion. He is an atheist, but most familiar with the scriptures and he comes across as being an astute observer with a vision for Israel: "It could be that the dream of the founder of Zionism will be fulfilled, that is a state, which has no Jewish implementation, which is the same for all citizens, open to all Jews of the world, but with full equality for all citizens, whether they are Muslims or Jews."

Author: Patrick Vanhulle
Editor: Rob Mudge