Images From The Past
A
In Israel,
German \eo-
\azism stirs
strong
emotions, but
only a
perfunctory
government
_ response.
) LARRY DERFNER
( ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
turning point in
Israel's attitude
toward German neo-
Nazism came last
weekend when a German
television feature juxtapos-
ing silent footage of
Auschwitz with shots of
today's neo-Nazis marching,
singing and bellowing for
the extermination of Jews,
was aired on Israel Televi-
sion's Friday evening
newscast.
It was seen by millions.
The program was so strong
that ITV repeated it the
following night.
Until then, the spread of
neo-Nazism in Europe, espe-
cially in Germany, had cer-
tainly been a shocking spec-
tacle for Israelis, but as
usual, their first attention
went to issues at home and
just across the borders. Im-
mediately after the televi-
sion program, though,
events in Germany
dominated the news, and
politicians felt compelled to
do, or at least say, some-
thing.
The Rabin government
came out with a statement
strongly condemning the
spread of neo-Nazism, and
calling on the German
government to stop it.
However, the government's
statement did not include a
word of criticism for the
Kohl government for its
faint-heartedness in the face
of neo-Nazism up to now — a
criticism that masses of
German citizens have been
making for months.
"I think to some extent it's
too little, too late," Avi
Becker, head of the World
Jewish Congress's Israel of-
fice, said of the govern-
ment's response. "It's a pity
they had to wait for a TV
broadcast from Germany" to
speak up, he added.
There had been calls for
action. The wildest came
from Isser Harel, the
legendary founding father of
the Mossad, who said the
agency should emulate its
actions of the 1950s, when it
assassinated Nazi war
criminals, by picking off
some leaders of the neo-Nazi
movement.
This suggestion might
have found support among
some private Israeli citizens,
but to Israeli officials, it was
deemed unworthy of com-
ment.
Education Minister
Shulamit Aloni had prom-
Young German neo Nazis march in Dresden.
-
ised to propose that the
cabinet call on Israeli and
world Jewry to boycott Ger-
many unless the German
government got tough on its
racist thugs. Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres re-
portedly told her to drop the
proposal, which she did.
"Maybe I exaggerated," she
later allowed.
In the end, the only
"action" taken was by three
Knesset members who
cancelled their planned trip
this week to Germany,
where they had been invited
by the Bundestag (parlia-
ment). They said numerous
appeals from constituents
and political colleagues con-
vinced them not to go.
"During recent days, and
especially after the televi-
sion program, the public at-
mosphere in Israel has
become very anxious and an-
tipathetic toward German
society and the German
government," explained
Labor's Emanuel Zisman,
one of the Knesset trio.
The Israeli government
voiced no antipathy to Ger-
man society at large or to the
Bonn government. Israeli of-
ficials, from Mr. Rabin on
down, rightly gave credit to
the hundreds of thousands of
Germans who have demon-
strated against the neo-
Nazis. Regarding the Kohl
government, Rabin and Co.
were aware that Germany is
second in value only to the
U.S. as an Israeli political
ally and economic benefac-
tor.
The two main elements of
the German-Israeli relation-
ship — German guilt and
Israeli dependence — came
through in remarks from
German Foreign Minister
Klaus Kinkel, which he
made in Bonn to Yediot
Aharonot, Israel's largest
newspaper. Responding to
the Israeli government's
Most Israelis
cannot understand
how Jews can live
in Germany.
statement on neo-Nazism,
Mr. Kinkel sounded both
apologetic and condescen-
ding:
"Israel had to say such
things. They were expected,
and we have full understan-
ding of your difficult feel-
ings. We have no anger over
the reactions in Israel to the
terrible deeds committed by
extremists. You are entitled
to be angry with us."
Israelis are also having
difficult feelings these days
toward German Jews. The
dominant feeling seems to be
one of exasperation. Many, if
not most, Israelis disrespect
German Jews for living
there, and are totally un-
sympathetic toward the
German Jews' apparent de-
termination to stay on.
"I am amazed how these
Jews are attracted to the
fleshpots instead of learning
the lessons of history," said
Uri Gordon, head of the Jew-
ish Agency's Immigration
and Absorption Department.
The Israeli press made a
big deal out of the 50 Ger-
man Jews who applied in
November to immigrate to
Israel. Only six had applied
in the previous two months
combined, so this new figure
supposedly constituted a
"wave." But there are about
50,000 Jews in Germany (in-
cluding 13,000 former
Israelis). The 1992 total of
German immigrants to
Israel will not exceed 50, the
Jewish Agency said.
"There is no 'wave' of im-
migration to Israel from
Germany. Just the oppo-
site," said Jewish Agency
Chairman Simcha Dinitz.
Mr. Dinitz blamed the
German Jewish estab-
lishment for its complacen-
cy, for "claiming that every-
thing's wonderful, every-
thing's perfect." Ignatz
Bubis, the leader of the
German Jewish community,
has been the head cheer-
leader, saying repeatedly
that the Jews are in no
pressing danger, and have
no reason to emigrate.
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