Metamorphoses

After several days of public relations, aimed at winning popular support for a new foreign deployment of the Bundeswehr, the assignment of German military units to Lebanon has, to a large extent, been accepted. The German Defense Minister submitted troop offers in New York on August 17.

Reserves

As in similar cases, the government sent the appropriate signals into the area targeted for intervention and received the pre-arranged accord. Last weekend, the German Interior Minister opened the cliché-ridden exchange, by stating, that Germany will not renege on its "responsibility" [1]; thereupon, the Israeli Foreign Ministry immediately answered that German soldiers are welcomed.[2] To impose the extended military cooperation, Berlin invoked, for the umpteenth time, the victims of the Shoa. Alternately, because of Auschwitz, or despite Auschwitz, the Bundeswehr deployment is considered inevitable. As the Bundeswehr's General Inspector declared, soon thereafter, the German Navy still has "reserves".[3]

Combat Effective

For decades, the German-Israeli military cooperation has brought the German arms industry continuous contracts. According to official data, the German arms exports amounted to more than two billion DM between 1992 and 1999. Between 2000 and 2004, according to Berlin, arms, valued at 500 million Euros, were exported to Israel. But the true volume of German military aid must be much higher, since the data excludes combat effective services in the intelligence sector as well as indirect support. At the same time, the German arms industry is exporting weapons to Israel's Arab adversaries. But up to now, the value of theses exports, lies far below the value of exports to Tel Aviv. Between 2000 and 2004, exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were reaching 200 million Euros each, and to Egypt 100 million.

Support

German-Israeli military cooperation dates back to secret contacts in 1957. From that point on, at the latest, a new field of export was opened to the arms industry of West Germany, serving - according to the official version - the protection of the newly formed state. But the secret accords concluded between the West German Defense Minister at the time, Franz Josef Strauß, and his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, had a completely different background: They were reached under US pressure. In the aftermath of the Suez crises, the USA forged a Middle East front against the Arab independence movement and sought technological and financial support through West German arms exports to Tel Aviv. A secret accord concerning German arms supplies and military training for the Israeli armed forces was concluded in June 1962.

Neutralizing

Social-democratic circles in West Germany were particularly willing to undertake contacts in support of American policy toward Israel. Israeli public opinion viewed German Social democrats (SPD) as being less implicated (in Nazi-crimes), and their affiliated organizations could be less self-conscious in their cooperation with the prominent trade union movements in Tel Aviv or Haifa. In April 1967, under the chairman of the Bank für Gemeinwirtschaft (Bank for the Non-Profit Sector, BfG), based in Frankfurt, an enterprise of the German Trade Union Federation, DGB, a "German Association for the Promotion of Trade Relations with Israel" was introduced to the public. This association provided the civilian component for the expanding military business. In 1975, the DGB and the Israeli trade union federation, Histadrut, concluded a "partnership contract", aimed at neutralizing left criticism of West Germany's Middle East policy.

Addition

Since the 1970s, the tandem structure of West German Middle East policy, has permitted the protection of conflicting interests. Serving the original US strategy's need for support, the SPD and its affiliated organizations are considered emphatic advocates of Israel. German business circles, heavily implicated in Nazi crimes, and having strong interests in exports to the Arab world, are primarily represented by the "Liberals" (FDP) and large sectors of the conservative CDU/CSU. This tandem is reflected in statistics. By the end of the 1990s, the German Israeli trade volume, valued at US Dollar 4.3 billion, was just below that of German trade with Saudi Arabia, the Arab Emirates and Iran (together US Dollar 6.8 billion).

Concern

Substantial fluctuations are now appearing, caused by the increased liquidity of Arab energy suppliers, due to the high costs of raw materials. The German-Israeli trade volume (3.7 billion Euros) accounted for only 15 per cent of last year's trade with states in the Middle East (24.7 billion Euros). This imbalance is causing concern in German foreign policy circles. The German Minister of the Economy participated, June 7, at the founding meeting of a German-Israeli Economic Council, aimed at developing momentum in the waning trade relations.

Mediator

German foreign policy is becoming increasingly alarmed, in light of its military temptation to assume a role as an armed factor in Middle East stability. As was to be expected, the FDP and large sections of the CDU/CSU are warning against the consequences of the Bundeswehr's deployment on the side of Israel: the Arab market might suffer. On the other hand, to avoid a rupture with German business interests, the SPD and its affiliated organizations are trying to also engage Arab states in its US-based Israel policy. The German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier's trip to the Middle East was the most recent attempt. Steinmeier was presented to the German public as a peace mediator. For his tandem activities, Steinmeier (SPD) was rebuffed by Syria.[4]

Philo-Semites

Contradiction and concurrence in Middle Eastern foreign policy interests are exaggeratedly linked to the Nazi crimes, when being presented to the German public: West Germany (despite or even because of Auschwitz) must "protect Israel" and is indebted to "the Jews".[5] The German Middle East policy is dominated by such representations, since its last setback in 1945 and the subsequently compelled reversal of the anti-Semitic stereotype. "The German postwar period gave birth to philo-Semitic habits", writes Frank Stern, in a study of the Institute for German History at the University of Tel Aviv.[6]

Smoke-Screen

With the alleged, deeply felt sympathy for Israel, the postwar West German elite succeeded in redeeming itself both morally and financially. Those responsible for the anti-Jewish and anti-Slavic war of extermination, subsequently emerged as sponsors of the "Jewish state". The Nazi banker, Hermann J. Abs, signed the "London Agreement on German External Debts" in 1953, defrauding the nations formerly occupied by the Nazis and their Jewish populations of justified demands for billions of DMs. The Israeli government also accepted breadcrumbs from the executioner: 3.45 billion DM as "reparations". From that point on, philo-Semitism functioned as a political smoke-screen for West Germany's Middle East policy. Having made material concessions to Israel, the West German government no longer had to fear fundamental disturbances from Tel Aviv. In a "philo-Semitic metamorphosis" (Frank Stern) the cold-blooded planners of the Judeophobic mass murder were transformed into patrons of the allegedly beloved Israel.

Adventure

With the instrumentalized philo-Semitism, through which an inverted mirrored structure of the racist Judeophobia is reflected, Germany's Middle East policy proceeds to its next adventure - because Berlin would like to see, "Germany become one of the global players"[7], but not "for the protection of Israel".

[1], [2] Schäuble und Jung offen für Nahost-Einsatz; N24.de 14.08.2006
[3] Bundeswehr hat Reserven für Nahost-Truppe; Financial Times Deutschland 15.08.2006
[4] see also Civil War
[5] Beispielhaft: Israel muss geschützt werden; Berliner Zeitung 16.08.2006
[6] Frank Stern: Im Anfang war Auschwitz. Antisemitismus und Philosemitismus im deutschen Nachkrieg, Gerlingen 1991
[7] Israel muss geschützt werden; Berliner Zeitung 16.08.2006