Merkel in the Knesset: Emphatically reinforcing German-Israeli ties

As historic moments in modern statesmanship go, yesterday’s was undoubtedly a big, memorable and deeply symbolic one.

Wrapping up a three-day diplomatic visit to Israel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, becoming the first German head of government ever to do so. Except for a few sentences offered in Hebrew, which received warm applause, Merkel delivered her address in German – the “language of murderers,” as some critics of the German pol’s appearance in the parliament described her native tongue. (In fact, notes the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, in the past, the German presidents – heads of state, that is, not heads of government – “Richard von Weizsacker, Roman Herzog, Johannes Rau and Horst Koehler also visited Israel, and the latter two also addressed the Knesset in German.”) (See also Die Welt and Der Spiegel Online)

Sebastian Scheiner/Pool/Reuters

German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the podium yesterday, moments before making a historic address to Israel’s parliament

Deutsche Welle, the German news service, notes that Israel and Germany “established ties in 1965 after years of negotiations, including over reparations for Jewish property” the Nazis had seized during their World War II-era campaign to eliminate the Jews of Europe. Merkel began her speech yesterday in Hebrew, saying: “To speak to you in this honorable assembly is a great honor for me.” Continuing in German, she said: “I thank you all that I am allowed to speak to you in my mother tongue today….” DW reports: “‘The Shoah fills us Germans with shame,’ she said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were killed. ‘I bow to the victims. I bow to all those who helped the survivors.’” (See also Köln Stadt-Anzeiger) In her speech, Merkel said emphatically: “Germany will never abandon Israel but will remain a true friend and partner.” (BBC)

In her Knesset address, “Merkel promised to work to halt Iran’s nuclearization, to fight anti-Semitism and to strive for closer relations between Israel and the [European Union]. She also expressed solidarity with Israel’s efforts to cope with terror attacks and Qassam rockets [being fired at Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants], and, above all, she stressed her country’s ‘everlasting responsibility’ for the Holocaust.” (Ha’aretz)

Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

This past Sunday, at the start of her three-day trip, Merkel stood with Israel’s President Shimon Peres as she placed a wreath at the burial site of the coiuntry’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion

Placing Merkel’s Knesset speech in a historical-diplomatic context, Ha’aretz also observes: “Germany is currently Israel’s best friend in Europe, and perhaps even in the world, excepting the United States. It stands out in the European Union for being willing to support Israel under difficult circumstances and for working to balance anti-Israel resolutions in international forums….[Merkel's] visit here is her third of the last two years. She feels a deep responsibility toward Israel, both because of the Holocaust and because of the actions of East Germany in which she grew up, whose hostility toward Israel was exceptional even by Soviet-bloc standards.” The Israeli newspaper notes that the delegation that accompanied Merkel on her trip to Israel “included captains of German industry, members of [Germany's] parliament and eight senior cabinet ministers. The latter participated in the two governments’ first joint cabinet session, thereby establishing an annual ‘consultative forum’ such as Germany previously had only with France and Poland.”

Charlotte Knobloch, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, accompanied Merkel on her trip to Israel and praised the German leader’s diplomatic performance there. Knobloch noted that “Angela Merkel has opened up a new chapter in the relationship between Israel and Germany” and added that she thought the chancellor is “a genuine friend of Jewish society and of the Jewish state.” (Netzeitung.de)

Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

During her trip to Israel, Merkel visited children at a kibbutz in the southern part of the country

Nevertheless, “Merkel’s speech in German” before the Knesset “has ruffled some feathers in Israel, where memories of the Nazis’ murder of six million Jews during World War II run deep. Five legislators in the 120-member Knesset stayed away in protest, saying they did not want to hear German spoken.” Arieh Eldad, a Knesset member who represents the far-right National Union-National Religious Party, said: “I know the last sounds heard by my grandparents and my uncles whom I have not known were those of the German language.” Also, Israel Radio reported that Shelly Yachimovich, a representative of the coalition Labor Party, had said that “she would stay absent from the speech because it was ‘insensitive’ toward Holocaust survivors to hold it in German, ‘the language of their torturers – S.S. officers, camp commanders and the Gestapo.’” Yitzhak Levy, a representative of the same political party, commented: “It’s very hard to hear the German language in the Knesset. We want to remind [people] that, despite the fact that Germany today is indeed showing friendship toward Israel, we remember what…happened.” (Deutsche Welle)

Posted By: Edward M. Gomez (Email) |
March 19 2008 at 08:55 AM