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Merkel in Israel

Two interesting pieces dealing with Angela Merkel, Germany's PM, in Israel as well as addressing the Knesset the other day:

"If the German chancellor really cared for Israel's security as she claimed, she would not have been able to hold a speech like the one she presented on March 18 in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Israel is one of the most insecure countries in the world. Why is that? According to Merkel's speech Hamas, Hizbollah, Syria and Iran seem to be responsible. Those are criticized by her for their attitude towards Israel. The chancellor said that Israel has been fighting for 60 years against threats and for peace and security, with the values of freedom, democracy, and human dignity. Is that so? Then why are Jewish intellectuals inside and outside Israel--Holocaust survivors among them--vehemently and increasingly deploring the moral decay, militarization of the society, and the self-destructive policy of the country? People like Ilan Pappe, Uri Avnery, Gideon Levy, Amira Hass, Reuven Moskovitz, Uri Davis, Jeff Halper, Hajo Meyer, Hedy Epstein, Noam Chomsky, Felicia Langer, Ran Ha Cohen, Norman Finkelstein, Shulamit Aloni, Michael Warschawski, Tom Segev. And institutions like B'tselem, Gisha, Zochrot, Rabbis for Human Rights, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Jewish Voice for Peace. The list is much longer, these are only examples. Each of those individuals and groups are concerned about Israel's security and they write and protest out of their sense of responsibility.

We are still confronted with the phenomenon that critics of the Jewish State are labeled as anti-Semites or as self-hating Jews, respectively. Historian Ilan Pappe, for instance, in his current bestseller "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" provided evidence that the foundation of Israel was accompanied by crimes against humanity. A great part of the indigenous population had been brutally expelled--some were murdered -, hundreds of villages were destroyed and estates were disseized. What kind of peace can you reach by ignoring facts like these? What kind of peace can you seek when ignoring the decade-long occupation of the Westbank and the Gaza Strip? And the annexation of a part of Syria? What kind of peace can one hope for when a wall is built not on the border, but on the land of the neighbor? When settlements are placed in occupied territory and expanded until today against international law? When water reservoirs are being tapped that do not lie on the own state territory? When populations are harrassed and treated with violence because of their ethnic affiliation? When democratic elections of the neighbor are annulled which arouses a civil war?"

So writes Anis Hamadeh on CounterPunch, here.

Meanwhile, at Haaretz this:

REAL FRIENDS

Kanzlerin Merkel
Made a pilgrimage to Israel
And groveled before
Olmert and Barak.

Before and after her,
Other world leaders
Did the same
They did not do
Any good to Israel.
They hurt it.

Real friends of Israel
Would not encourage
Olmert and Barak
To continue on a road
That leads to disaster.

Ad published in Haaretz, March 21, 2008

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