The Historical Context of Germany’s Support for Israel: From Angela Merkel to Olaf Scholz

2023-11-14 21:57:39

On October 27, when the UN General Assembly voted on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Germany, unlike countries like Belgium or France which voted “for” , abstained. Why is our powerful neighbor, a peace-loving country, in the camp of countries that unconditionally support Israel? There are obviously historical reasons.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz repeats it regularly, in the Bundestag, and once more on Sunday during a forum organized by a regional newspaper, there is no need for an immediate ceasefire because, according to him, this would allow “Hamas the possibility of recovering and obtaining new missiles“Yesterday, Olaf Scholtz spoke at a trade union congress and explained very simply why Germany stood with Israel: “I, as chancellor of our country, chancellor of a country whose history is responsible for the Holocaust and the death of millions of Jews in Europe, I want to be alongside Israel. Who has the right to defend themselves.”

This positioning of Germany is not new, far from it, it dates back a very long time. But it was firmly affirmed at the start of Angela Merkel’s mandate, it was in 2008, during a historic visit by the chancellor to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament: it was the first time that a leader of German government was welcomed there, on the occasion of Israel’s 60th anniversary.

At this same platform, Angela Merkel said that the security of Israel was the reason of state of her country, Germany. A striking statement and one that she will repeat during her very last official visit to a country, it was Israel in 2021: “Germany is not neutral when it comes to Israel’s security. Israel’s security is part of our reason of state.”

“Reason of State”, the term is powerful, it is not common for a country x to raise the security of a country y due to state reasons. This shame described by Angela Merkel, who was born less than ten years following the end of the Second World War, is still very present in this generation, and the following ones.

Does this view transcend the entire German political spectrum? And what regarding the increase in anti-Semitic acts? The rest, above, in this extract from Déclic, a program broadcast on La Première at 5:10 p.m. and on La Trois in the second part of the evening.

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