German professors: No more preferential treatment for Israel

[Scurrilous]

In debate held at Netanya Academic College, professors state modern day Germany ‘has paid its debt in full to the Jewish people’

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3508527,00.html

<snip>

"These are words that have been brewing just below the surface in Germany for quite a while, and now they were uttered aloud, right here in Israel. In a conference held Monday at Netanya’s Academic College, German professors asserted that their country “should stop giving the Sate of Israel preferential treatment”.

This statement comes at the heels of a manifesto, recently published by 25 German scholars, which maintained that Germany must be more ‘balanced’ in its political relations with Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The aforementioned professors stated that Germany helped strengthen the burgeoning State of Israel by deporting 160,000 German Jews during the Nazi reign. These refugees ultimately ended up in Israel and bolstered its Jewish population at the Arabs’ expense.

Furthermore, noted the professors, Germany has paid its “debt to the Jewish nation” in full through its reparations agreement with Israel.

Whereas the Holocaust was an indelible stain on the annals of German history, they stated, Germany must now improve its relations with the Arab world by taking on a more balanced approach to its foreign policy and its treatment of Israel.

This German manifesto was hotly contested by Israeli professors in a debate held Monday at the Strategic Dialogue Center at Netanya College."

[Tarc]

1. It is about time for this to come about

I mean, really; how long should a nation be made to feel guilty over a government vanquished 60+ years ago? Acknowledge history and never forget it of course, but this has to stop guiding and dictating Germany's relations with Israel and the Middle East.

[johnniehancock]

5. Did you read the OP?

The aforementioned professors stated that Germany helped strengthen the burgeoning State of Israel by deporting 160,000 German Jews during the Nazi reign. These refugees ultimately ended up in Israel and bolstered its Jewish population at the Arabs’ expense.

WTF?

I am a long time lurker in this forum, and despite the many outrageous things I've read, I never felt compelled to register and comment. But that this line was overlooked is too much.

Thank you Nazi Germany for deporting your Jews so they (or at least those who survived the deportation) could "bolseter its Jewish population." Happy now, German Professors?

[breakaleg]

2. The response from Ben-Meir is lovely.

"Ben-Meir concluded his manifesto with a stark warning to Germany, warning the country that if it ceases its “preferential treatment” of Israel, this could very well signal a slow return to the dark days of the Nazi regime."

Sure, go ahead and threaten anyone by throwing the holocaust in their face should they also decide to treat Israel fairly.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Germany can't have it both ways...

if the Holocaust should be irrelevant to how it treats Israel (a defensible point of view, if one treats 'Israel' as a separate entity from 'the Jews'), then such comments as the following are irrelevant and inappropriate: 'Germany has paid its “debt to the Jewish nation” in full through its reparations agreement with Israel.' That comment leaves a rather bad taste in the mouth.

I note that these are a few German professors who chose to engage in a debate on the issue. They are not represent the German people or government, and indeed may be highly unrepresentative.

[subsuelo]

4. leaves a bad taste for me too

They are not the ones to decide!

[Waya]

8. SNORT..........

.....right. Because Israel cannot and should not be compensated and receive carte blanche by and from Germany (and the rest of the world) indefinately - that means a new Nazi regime is on its way? Gimme a break! Typical tho.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

6. Smells like a publicity stunt.

In any case, Germany should absolutely pursue balanced relationships with Israel and the Arab world, as should any nation who chooses to do so.

Pursuing a rational political path today doesn't obviate anything that happened in the past. I wonder why German professors would include such imflammatory language? The whole thing seems fishy to me.

It's always interesting to watch debates about "moral debt" though. Precedents about repaying moral debt can be a double edge sword.

[bemildred]

7. Everybody wants attention.

It is a bit odd, but you would be amazed at some of the drivel out there. Some people do go right off the deep end about Jews. The ideas these fellows discuss are not really new, I've seen them before, and you will see them used - in slightly different ways - by zionists and anti-zionists and people that don't really care a fig about zionism but have a wild hair up their ass about Jews. And talking about this stuff is a reliable way to drive some people bonkers.

So, I don't know what they are up to, but I agree it seems odd.

[bemildred]

9. German professors: Nazis helped establish Israel

Twenty-five German professors have signed a manifesto published in the Frankfurter Rundschau calling on Germany to stop giving Israel "preferential treatment," because, among other reasons, the country "helped" establish Israel by expelling Jews from Germany during the rule of the Third Reich.

Approximately 160,000 Jews who were expelled from Nazi Germany ended up in Mandate-era Palestine and strengthened the Jewish presence here at the expense of the Arab population, they said.

Visiting in Israel as guests of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and the Academic College of Netanya, four professors and co-signatories of the manifesto held a debate Monday with Israeli academics.

The debate was initiated by Dov Ben-Meir, one of the heads of the college's Center for Strategic Dialogue. Prof. Moshe Zimmerman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an expert on German history, was also sitting on the Israeli side.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1203343697375&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull