Germany is Israel’s best friend, not America

“There is only one place for Germany: at Israel’s side. Germany has a perpetual task to stand up for the security of the state of Israel.” – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after the barbaric Hamas attack on Israel which occurred on October 7th 2023.

This last week, I read with dismay that Nicaragua, of all countries, has brought a legal case against Germany at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). According to the the UK’s Guardian Newspaper, “Nicaragua has brought a case against Germany at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) urging judges to order a halt to German weapons sales to Israel, alleging it is in breach of its obligation to prevent genocide and ensure respect of international humanitarian law.” 

According to the U.S Department of State, “the Ortega-Murillo regime for years has chipped away at Nicaragua’s democratic institutions and, along with a small circle of enablers, has allowed corruption and impunity to reign. Nicaragua is increasingly deepening its relationship with Russia as it turns its back on the Nicaraguan people.”

They have also been on record stating that “on November 7, 2021, following months of repression and the imprisonment of more than 40 democratic leaders, including seven potential presidential candidates, opposition members, journalists, students and members of civil society, the Ortega-Murillo regime stole an election that denied Nicaraguans their ability to choose their own government.”

Make no mistake. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his dictatorial regime persecutes, criminalizes, and extradites its opponents. They offer their allies (former officials accused of corruption, narcotrafficking, or terrorism) personal protection and refuge as bargaining chips for their own benefit. They are hardly a moral compass to be prosecuting any country for their actions. 

In response to Nicaragua’s accusations at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Germany once again stood up and provided unequivocal support for Israel, stating that “our history is the reason why Israel’s security has been at the core of Germany’s foreign policy. Germany has learned from its past, a past that includes the responsibility for one of the most horrific crimes in human history, the Shoah (Holocaust).” Nicaragua bringing this legal case against Germany has about as much moral prudence as Libya participating in the United Nations Human Rights Council. Frankly, it’s absurd.

The German Council of Foreign Relations are on record stating that “the brutal terrorist attack of Hamas on Israel has shocked Germany. Attacks against civilians are never justified. All political parties, except for those on the extreme Right and Left, have issued strong statements of support to Israel. They reiterated that Israel’s existence is part of Germany’s Staatsräson. Germany rightly stands with Israel in the face of this terrorist attack.”

It’s in this context, that such a costly and unprovoked legal stoush by Nicaragua, led by a corrupt dictator struggling for relevance in 2024, against Germany, serves the purpose of reminding the world that America is not Israel’s greatest ally. It’s Germany. They are unwavering in their unequivocal support for the Jewish State. Your auto-pilot response to this notion may be to shudder at such a thought, given the Nazi genocide resulting in the annihalation of six million Jews in the Holocaust.

How could Germany be Israel’s best friend?

Well, it’s important for you to realise that so much has changed since that horrific time in history, particularly in recent years, which has resulted in Germany playing a critical role in ensuring Israel’s long-term safety and security on the world stage. Germany are staunchly defending Israel’s right to exist and defending their legitimacy, against an ever-growing tidal wave of unfair criticism and moral rejectionism.

What is Germany’s Staatsräson and why is this important to Israel and World Jewry?

Staatsraison is German for the term “reason of state”, This is a legal theory and concept in international relations that has developed over centuries of Western political thought. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as the “justification for a nation’s foreign policy on the basis that the nation’s own interests are primary.”

Marietta Auer, the managing director of Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory told the German press that “protecting the state of Israel could be a German value that risks undermining German interests, but Merkel’s invocation of Staatsräson in Israel in 2008 put that tension to rest. It may have been wobbly legal theory, but in terms of policy and politics, it was a smart move that simplified things.”

An important piece by William Noah Glucroft called Germany’s unique relationship with Israel for the Deutsche Welle website goes some way to explain the concept of Staatsraison further: “For Germany, the past is always present. Its genocide of European Jews and other groups during the Nazi era have a profound impact on its existence today, influencing its policymaking and shaping its view of the world. When it comes to Israel, which the Zionist movement founded as the Jewish state just three years after Germany’s systematic murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust, the German state sees a ‘special responsibility.’ Its commitment to Israel is more than just a policy goal; it is a fundamental part of present-day Germany’s very existence.”

Glucroft clarifies this further, by stating that this “makes Israel’s security and existence Germany’s ‘Staatsräson’ (reason of state).” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeated it several times since Hamas’ terrorist attacks on October 7th 2023: “At this moment, there is only one place for Germany. That is the side of Israel.” Scholz said in an address to the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament. “That’s what we mean when we say, Israel’s security is German reason of state.”

In an interview with the Deutsche Welle website, Carlo Masala, a professor at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, said the following: “In Germany, it has not really been spelled out what this means. If you really mean seriously ‘part of Germany’s ‘Staatsräson,’ then there are moral, political and, in a way, constitutional implications,” the international relations expert said in an interview with German national broadcaster, ZDF. “If Israel’s existence really were at stake, which Masala made clear is not currently the case, then Germany would be obligated to ‘actively defend’ Israel, meaning direct military engagement.”

Official promotion of Germany’s relationship with Israel on the world stage

The German Federal Foreign Office promotes their relationship with Israel very clearly on an official level:

“Germany has a unique relationship with Israel. This stems from Germany’s responsibility for the Shoah, the systematic genocide of six million European Jews under National Socialism. Since diplomatic relations were established between Germany and Israel on 12 May 1965, the relationship between the two countries has continuously been deepened and grown stronger, both at the official level and in the sphere of civil society. The unique nature of German-Israeli relations is a cornerstone of German foreign policy. Germany is an advocate of the State of Israel’s right to exist. Germany continue to make repatriation payments to victims of Nazi persecution. This has been an important political issue in relations between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany. German reparation payments total some 82 billion euro (2022). Around 1.44 billion euro is paid from the federal budget each year for pension and care costs of victims of Nazi persecution, many of whom live in Israel (2022 figures).” 

Germany and Israel undertake “research cooperation between the two countries in the areas of science, medicine, technology and innovation: at ministerial and state level, between universities and research institutes, and between individual researchers from both countries” according to Deutschland.de (Germany’s official country website).

Section 130 of the German criminal code

As explained by PBS.org, Germany have gone as far as ensuring that their penal code prohibits publicly denying the Holocaust and disseminating Nazi propaganda, both off and online. This includes sharing images such as swastikas, wearing an SS uniform and making statements in support of Hitler.

PBS.org reported that “it also places strict rules on how social media companies must moderate and report hate speech and threats. These hate-speech laws were tightened last year, after three far-right terror attacks in 2019 and early 2020 prompted German authorities to warn of increasing extremism. Germany’s laws on hate speech and Holocaust denial stand in sharp contrast to the United States, where the First Amendment limits the role of government in restricting speech. 

An example of how this operates in Germany is Section 130 of the German criminal code which criminalizes certain types of hate speech. This section specifies that “the law bans incitement to hatred and insults that assault human dignity against people based on their racial, national, religious or ethnic background. In post-World War II Germany, it has been used to prosecute racist and antisemitic threats and slurs, and it carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.” 

Whatever your views are in relation to the protection of free speech in a democratic society, one can not argue with the fact that Germany are putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to prosecuting against antisemitic incidences in their country.

On the flip side, President Joe Biden has capitulated to US House Democrat, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) and her likeminded anti-Israel zealouts! 

Contrast this to the House Democrats in the US Congress who are leading mass pro-Palestinian protests / rallies across the country and whipping up anti-Zionist sentiment. There were nine of them who voted against a resolution in October 2023, that expressed support for Israel and condemned militant group Hamas’s attack against their innocent civilians that month. These were Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), Rep. Cori Bush (Missouri), Rep. Jamaal Bowman (New York), Rep. Andre Carson (Indiana), Rep. Al Green (Texas), Rep. Summer Lee (Pennsylvania), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), and Rep. Delia Ramirez (Illinois). President Biden’s capitulation

For an example of extreme anti-Israel venom being hurled out to the public, Democrat Rashida Tlaib leads the way. Tlaib is on record stating that “the failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer. No person, no child anywhere should have to suffer or live in fear of violence. We cannot ignore the humanity in each other,” Tlaib said in her statement. “As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.” 

President Joe Biden has taken the weak option and succumbed to these extremist elements of his Party, as evidenced by the ridiculous pressure he is currently placing on Israel for a ceasefire with Hamas without placing a pre-condition of all Israeli hostages to be released and Hamas to recognise Israel’s right to exist. It really is a sad state of affairs for America, once Israel’s best friend and most reliable partner within a hostile global environment.

Undoubtedly, the panicked uncertainty of frightened Jews impacted by this latest surge of antisemitism would improve significantly, if (hopefully soon to be ex) American President Joe Biden would take note of Germany’s unequivocal support of Israel and follow suit. Biden’s pandering to the left-wing, woke elements of his Democratic Party and placing unfair conditions on Israel’s inherent right for safety and security ensures that terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah are not held to account.

I, for one, would turn to Olaf Scholz to support Israel’s best interests over Joe Biden any day of the week.