It is with the greatest imaginable dismay that we read the outcome produced by the foreign-affairs working group of the coalition negotiations (see extract below), which from line 328 onwards deals with the Middle East conflict. The wording chosen not only represents a considerable hardening compared with the previous coalition agreement, it even contradicts the resolution on antisemitism that we welcomed so warmly only recently!
Specifically:
Israel’s right to exist is indeed secured, but not with the addition that is so important to us as Jews: “as a Jewish state”. This annuls the very core of the bond between Jews and Israel. In the motion on antisemitism mentioned above, that wording was still there. Has the cross-party consensus changed within ten days?
The text comes out against Israeli settlement policy and against the status of Jerusalem as the capital. It goes on to announce support for UNRWA. Not a word condemns Palestinian terror, incitement, corruption or the absence of democratic structures. This one-sided partisanship against Israel and in favour of UNRWA – which many experts regard not as part of the solution but as part of the problem – is devastating. It leads not to more peace but to more conflict, because it strengthens the narrative of Israeli and Palestinian hardliners.
Jews worldwide, and all the more so Jews in Israel, will perceive themselves as being delegitimised as “Jewish” and will feel attacked at their very core. Palestinian Arabs, by contrast, will see in this an opportunity to “reconquer” the Israeli heartland through demography and legislation. Furthermore, unconditional financial support will continue to give them an incentive to maintain their “refugee” status.
The positions on Jerusalem, UNRWA and the settlements show that, if the coalition has its way, Israel is to pay the price for Germany’s annoyance at Trump’s policies. That must not be the political line of a German government!
For us as German Jews, this unquestionable deterioration in German-Israeli relations is particularly painful. The 70th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel is in danger of becoming – by political intent – a scandal. Instead of seizing the opportunity to stride into the future as a community of values and thus as natural partners, is the German governing coalition really about to resolve upon the lowest point in relations?!
And finally: before the federal election, the WerteInitiative wrote to all the major parties asking them to comment on eight of our positions. (https://werteinitiative.de/bundestagswahl-2017/) The tone and content of the answers given “back then” and of the draft coalition agreement diverge massively.
We urgently call on those responsible to prevent this text and its consequences!
