A personal view on the present political scene in Israel by Hajo G. Meyer

"What is hateful to you do not to your fellow creature" (Hillel)

Introduction

The considerations which follow are of a very personal nature indeed. They must be interpreted in the light of the personal history of the writer. They doubtless present a subjective view of the political reality in Israel and its surroundings. At the same time, they may also contain large parts of objective reality. Because of the personal character of my considerations I must start out by summarizing the most essential facts of my life. I was born in 1924 in Bielefeld, Germany. Until 9th November 1938 (the day of the "Kristallnacht pogrom') I attended a German secondary school where I had ample opportunity to learn quite a bit of the Nazi theories and doctrines. In 1939 I traveled (with a "children's transport") as a refugee kid to Holland. Alone. Then various refugee camps and homes, then underground before, in March 1944, Auschwitz. After the war I returned to Holland to study theoretical physics and then 34 years of research in industry. From the above it may be clear that I am not a historian. However, I have lived through very dramatic parts of history in the most intensive way. Therefore, I may call myself an expert in a number of areas which are of relevance for the present situation in and around Israel. Most important, I have experienced how it feels to be second-rate citizen or even a pariah. But there is more, too, as will become clear.

Motivation

Why this article? Why do I have nightmares about Israel and its neighbors ? It is a combination of motives : the two quotations at the head of this article plus my life's experiences. With those perspectives, I see terrible, painful, tragic and shameful things; I see too many parallels between present day Israel and the Germany of my > youth. I know that history never repeats itself literally. The differences between two historic situations may often be more important than the similarities. Still, in some cases people have learned from history. A striking example of this is the difference in the treatment of Germany by the Allied nations after its dramatic defeats in the First > and in the Second World War. I will return to this as I set out the arguments for my frightening assertion about the parallels between present day Israel and Germany in the 1930s.

Do parallels indeed exist?

You may judge yourself, from what follows. The German people of my youth were deeply marked, if not
traumatized, by what was called "der Schmachfrieden von Versailles" (the outrageous Peace Treaty of Versailles). This treaty was indeed a terrible mistake. Its consequences created the conditions which enabled Hitler grab the government. After the World War II some of the Allies' wise politicians (yes, even they occur now and then in history), did show they had learned from the terrible and tragic mistake after the World War I. They greatly helped the Germans to rebuild their completely destroyed country; the results (as we now know) were extremely positive.

The Jewish people are obviously even more deeply and more permanently traumatized by the Shoah. The world's guilty conscience over this crime without precedent, led to the UN resolution of 29 November 1947, in which the division of Palestine into two parts was decided upon; then came the founding of the State of Israel as an independent nation in 1948. The deep humiliation of the Germans after World War I created the psychological climate which made Hitler acceptable; he said it should never be able to be repeated. Therefore, an important myth was created, the "Volk ohne Raum", implying that Germany had not enough territory. It needed "Lebensraum", from both the military strategy point of view and for the purposes of comfortable living. Thus Germany had to expand its territory, especially in the direction of the "verloren gegangenen Ostgebiete die zurück erobert werden müssen", the lost territories east of Germany, which had to be re conquered. By way of historic "justification" for this expansion, it was stated that (for example) German crusaders in the thirteenth century had rebuilt the Polish city of Krakov after its demolition by the Mongols, an assertion which happened to be true.

Among the Jewish people in general, and especially among those living in Israel, there naturally exists a strong and justified wish never to have to experience a second Shoah. Psychologically this has taken on the form of fear: fear of living in too small and besieged an area. Obviously this is more justified than the equivalent German fear in the 1930s. But from a political and even strategic point of view, this Israeli desire for more space is both unnecessary and extremely unrealistic and dangerous to pursue at moment in history. The Israelis also think of expanding their territory eastwards. The historic "justification" for the incorporation of "Judea and Samaria' has its roots even in biblical times.

* Until the coming to power of Hitler, the Jews in Germany were utterly loyal citizens of the German state, the Weimar Republic. In law, at least, they had exactly the same rights as all other citizens. This changed dramatically after Hitler appeared on the scene. Very soon they were reduced to second rate citizens and even pariahs. For more than 50 years (until the Al Aksa intifadah) the Palestinian Israelis (19% of the total population of Israel) were conspicuous by their loyal behavior towards their state. In spite of > this long standing loyalty--and in spite of the fact that (with the exception of military service) they are equal before the law with Jewish Israelis-- they are still treated as second rate citizens.

* One of form of discrimination against the Jews under Hitler was the principle of "collective responsibility"; if one single Jew had committed a crime, in some cases the whole German-Jewish community was punished. The most notorious example of this is the November 1938 pogrom (Kristallnacht) which was intended as a punishment of all Jews for the murder of a German diplomat by a young Jew in Paris. Another example of this collective responsibility was the notorious "Sippenhaft". If one individual Jew had done something which was forbidden, his whole family could be incarcerated. Unfortunately, the principle of collective responsibility is also practiced in present day Israel time and again. After a bomb is thrown by one Palestinian extremist, a member of Hamas for example, all Palestinians are often told to stay out of Israel for weeks, deprived of work and income. If a bomb thrower is eventually identified, the house of his family is very often bulldozed to rubble.

In Germany, in order to make all the anti Jewish measures palatable for the public at large, the doctrine was invented and widely spread that Jews were different from ordinary Germans. They did not fit into Germanic culture. The former prime minister of Israel, the "moderate" of the two candidates of the recent elections, is quoted in the prestigious Israeli paper "Ha'Aretz" (2 February 2001) as saying: "It is because of the Arab character of discourse that their culture does not contain the concept of compromise. Compromise is apparently a Western concept for settling disputes". And in the same interview: "But in any event they (the Israelis who wanted really peace H.J.M.) see that the neighbors are not benign. Not part of the Western culture." At this point it may be appropriate to point to the differences which exist between the behavior of the Jews under the discriminating treatment in 1930s Germany and that of the Palestinians in present day Israel. The Jews in Germany underwent discrimination with a striking meekness, a mental attitude which nobody criticizes more sharply than present day Israelis. The Palestinians behave in striking contrast; they do fight back and sometimes with heavier weapons than just stones. This certainly accounts for considerable differences between 1930s Germany and 2001 in Israel. But the differences in no way justify the discrimination against Palestinian Israelis for more than fifty years.

* In the years after 1940 the Jews were more and more confined to gettos in Germany and the occupied territories. In the first place, this was to prevent any contact between the noble Germans and the Jews. Today's map of the West Bank with its Palestinian cities and villages and Jewish Settlements and roads clearly shows that Israel intends to confine the Palestinians there to getto-like areas. In the interview with Barak quoted above, the former PM talks euphemistically of "cantons". ( It is to be noted that the Germans were also very skilled in inventing euphemisms.) According to the present PM, Ariel Sharon, the gettos ought to be connected together with tunnels and bridges. (Ha'Aretz 11 January 2001).

* I shall never forget the humiliations which I had to undergo when I came into contact with the authorities of Nazi Germany. I must confess, I do remember them but they cause me pain no longer. What does cause me much pain is the idea that my own people > humiliate the Palestinians day after day in very similar ways, in spite of the wisdom of Rabbi Hillel quoted above. And the results are only counterproductive. This shameful behavior of the Israelis is vividly described in a shocking article by the Ha'Aretz journalist Amira Hass which ends with the words, directed towards the Jews in Israel: "Look at yourself in the mirror and realize how racist you have become". It is truly a depressing statement.

Conclusions It is remarkable that everything I have described has had so little attention in the media, at least in the Netherlands. Of course there is sometimes criticism to be heard or read of Israel's behavior. But if this criticism is compared with the enormous amount of space and time devoted to comment on Austria when Haider appeared on the scene, or to Yugoslavia when Milosevic was still in power there, it seems appropriate to call it "little attention". In my opinion there is little validity in the observation that Austria or Yugoslavia is closer geographically to the Netherlands. In fact the situation in the Near East is so highly explosive that it could swiftly become much more dangerous to all of us than a fascist Austria or perhaps even a fascist Yugoslavia.

Can we, as citizens of democratic countries, try to do something about this sad state of affairs? I think, yes, a tiny bit:

1. From the Jewish section of our community we must make clear, that justified criticism of discriminating behavior of Israel cannot be automatically identified with anti-Semitism.

2. From our governments in the US and in Europe much more pressure should be put on Israel to stop the suppression and humiliation of those Palestinians who have not committed any crimes. The sort of "Apartheid" propagated by the present prime minister (and illustrated in the quotation above) cannot be tolerated, and not merely on humanitarian grounds. Pragmatically, and in terms of pure self interest for the rest of the world, we all must be aware that the uncompromising attitude displayed by Mr Sharon could provoke a clash that could take on global dimensions.

3. After WW II, when the dimensions of the Shoah became clear, the Germans said : "Wir haben es nicht gewusst" (we did not know about it)! That is something that we cannot say about what is happening now in Israel and its neighboring territories. It would be wiser to try to influence our politicians to do everything they can to prevent a devastating war. Courtesy thestruggle.org