Germany Likes Guilty Jews Best

Last weekend, Mahmoud Abbas traveled to the northwest German city of Dortmund, where he was granted a Steiger Award—an annual set of prizes given by a regional media association—for, in his case, “Hope for Peace.” He also took the opportunity to visit Berlin, where he met with prominent German politicians of both the left and right, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, and was treated to a number of congratulatory speeches. To Eldad Beck, Abbas’s reception typifies much of the current German attitude toward Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

As soon as the name Israel is mentioned, too many Germans have a defensive reaction, an instinctive avoidance of being accused of past crimes, and then proceed on the principle that the best defense is a good offense. Thus has Israel automatically become in the eyes of most Germans, including senior public officials, the sole guilty party for all the problems in the Middle East—which have recently also invaded Europe and Germany. . . .

The recent visit to Germany by the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas revealed the strangeness of German policy toward the Middle East, especially regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. Germany, which sees itself as the guardian of democracy and protector of human rights, went out of its way to honor an Arab leader who was indeed chosen in free elections but who has not allowed any elections since 2005, is accused by his subjects of violating human rights and of corruption, has fled from making brave decisions to advance a peace agreement with Israel, is a Holocaust denier who continues to encourage violence against Jews under the cover of "resistance to the occupation," has done nothing to stop the incitement to violence in the areas under his control, and refuses to recognize the Jewishness of the state of Israel—even though such recognition is the official policy of the German government. Mahmoud Abbas symbolizes everything Germany opposes, and yet it still gives him honors generally reserved for the world's great leaders. . . .

Thanks to dozens of years of institutionalized anti-Israel attitudes, biased and sometimes even false media reports, and an education system that indoctrinates generations of Germans with anti-Israel propaganda, the Palestinians led by Mahmoud Abbas are seen by the German public as unfortunate victims bearing olive branches for peace, while the Israelis led by Benjamin Netanyahu (and all his predecessors from the right and the left) are considered to be cruel occupiers, murderous oppressors, and warmongers.

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