On May 12, 1965, 60 years ago, history was made: Israel, the young Jewish state and the even younger Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) – known at the time as West Germany – established diplomatic relations.
Twenty years after the end of World War II and the genocide of Jews organized by Germans and perpetrated by Germans and their European collaborators, this official reconciliation was highly controversial on both sides.
In Israel violent demonstrations accompanied the arrival of the first German ambassador, Rolf Pauls, who fought during the war as an officer of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern front, and was awarded a high military decoration for bravery in the battlefield by the Nazi regime.
In West Germany, many within the governmental and political establishment feared that the price of getting closer to Israel would be losing the diplomatically and economically important ties with the Arab world.
At the time, the two parts of Germany, the democratic West and Communist East, were competing over international recognition. Public opinion in the FRG – which in its vast majority opposed the reparations agreement signed already in 1952 by the FRG, Israel, and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany – was also not very enthusiastic about the diplomatic rapprochement with Israel.
Communist East Germany, which accused the FRG of being the “heir of the Nazi Reich,” started attacking Israel as the “Fourth Reich.”
From annihilation to allies
SIXTY YEARS later, the reunited Germany is considered one of Israel’s greatest allies.
“These relations are not to be taken for granted,” said the Israeli ambassador in Berlin, Ron Prosor, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. “[They] were born in the shadow of the Holocaust and became over the years a strategic partnership.
“We witness the intensity of a conscious decision to build a common future on the basis of remembering the past, bearing responsibility for it, and sticking to moral principles. The last 60 years taught us that we must maintain the memory, but that memory is not enough. We have to deal also with the question, what support does the nation-state of the Jewish people need, as it is facing challenges that not all Germans understand.
“On the other hand, we saw how both sides – Israel and Germany – grew to contribute to one another in many domains.
“On a personal level, I have always said that I wanted to be ambassador to Germany. It’s not only squaring a family circle. It’s a feeling of an honor to return here as the representative of the Jewish nation-state, since the relations between both countries are deeply important to me.
“A few months ago, the Israeli side had the impression that the German government wasn’t so interested in celebrating the 60th anniversary of relations with Israel. The war might have been a reason for that,” estimated Prosor.
“But don’t forget that the Germans were occupied with their recent elections. Now that the elections are over and there is a new government, President [Isaac] Herzog will visit Germany on May 12, President [Frank-Walter] Steinmeier will travel later to Israel, different delegations are planning to visit Israel, amongst others, to celebrate 100 years of the Hebrew University [of Jerusalem].
“I want to thank all those in Germany who for years have been working to promote relations between our countries.
“The depth of relations between states depends on the people-to-people relations,” explained Prosor. “It’s not only the Berlin-Jerusalem line. Germany is a federation of 16 states. For the first time ever, Israel’s ambassador, was invited to give a speech in the conference of all the 16 prime ministers of those states. We also plan that each state would send to Israel in 2025 a delegation of 10 people representing different domains of activities.
“This year we are also celebrating 70 years of the establishment of student and youth exchanges between the countries. Some 700,000 German pupils and volunteers were hosted over the years by Israeli families and met Israeli society on a personal and direct level, talking about soccer, music, and any other topic other than politics. This is something that really shapes the dimension and nature of relations between peoples and countries.
“I also hope that this year we will renew governmental consultations, which haven’t taken place since 2018 due to the political crisis in Israel, COVID, and the war.”
What essence would you like to give them?
“More cooperation and a change of voting modus in the international arena, in international institutions, in the EU. On the academic level the Germans already assist us a lot in the EU in face of countries that wish to see the EU boycotting Israel.
“I also see developing the youth exchange as part of it, being the real bridge between the peoples.”
Prosor was six-and-a-half years old when the FRG and Israel established diplomatic relations. His family fled Germany soon after the Nazis were given control over Germany. His first diplomatic post abroad, at the end of the ’80s, was the last spokesman of the Israel Embassy in the FRG and first spokesman in the reunited Germany. After a rich diplomatic career, during which he was director-general of the Foreign Ministry, ambassador to Great Britain and to the UN, he was appointed as ambassador to Germany in 2022.
“When I first came here as a young diplomat, Germany was divided,” he recalled. “I experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall and the transformation which the five ‘new’ federal states of the former German Democratic Republic [East Germany] went through, not only within the reunification process but in their attitude to Israel.
“In Communist times Israel was considered the long arm of US capitalism. All of a sudden, with the fall of Communism, the vision of Israel has completely changed and became for many very positive. East Germany was for us Israelis like a terra incognita, where a different infrastructure of relations with Israel could be built.
“Germany of today is different on certain levels. After World War II Germany stood for the idea that war should be avoided at any price. German society became largely pacifist. But when [Russian President Vladimir] Putin invaded Ukraine, [Germans] understood that dialogue was not the only option to solve conflicts. Suddenly, Germany realized that it must defend itself.
“When Angela Merkel was chancellor, she wanted to purchase Israeli military Heron drones. The Social Democrats in her government and the Greens from the opposition totally refused the purchase of weaponized drones.
“After the Russian invasion of 2022, both parties – this time partners in a joint government – ordered supplementary drones from Israel and wanted all of them to be weaponized. The Green Party, which preached for pacifism, holds now the most aggressive positions regarding the war in Ukraine. Germany today feels endangered and understands that it has to defend itself.
“Often I have to explain this change to Israelis. Germany bought in 2024 from Israel Arrow 3 missile defense systems. The fact that the nation-state of the Jewish people helps to defend Germany and Europe is something that my father and grandfather never dreamed of.”
Not only Germany changed, but also the balance in the relations between both countries. In the ’50s and ’60s Israel needed German assistance, including military, in order to survive and develop. Now Germany needs Israeli assistance in many fields, including military.
“We still have a lot to learn from Germany,” underlined Prosor, “But Israel today is such a technological, defensive, and political power that Germany can learn a lot from us as well, mainly in the fields of national security, confronting terrorism and radical Islam, and digitalization. This creates a change of balance in the relations.
“In the domains of cyber and AI, we have cooperation on an equal basis, [from] which both sides benefit. There is a very good connection between German engineering craft and Israeli innovation. In many domains we complement each other.”
What would you say today to those in Israel who opposed 60 years ago the establishment of these relations, so soon after the Holocaust? Have we Israelis forgiven the Germans too quickly?
“I don’t think we can judge those who opposed this move. Some of them were Holocaust survivors; others lost all their family. The wound was still bleeding. Beyond the rage, the fresh memory of the Holocaust was part of the Israeli identity. I can even imagine, through the history of my own family, which fled Germany, how heavy the burden on [prime minister David] Ben-Gurion was when he shook hands for the first time with [German chancellor] Konrad Adenauer.
“With the passage of time, I think that this effort to achieve reconciliation was a courageous step of the Israeli leadership. It did not give up the commitment to memory. It transformed memory into a binding moral fundament.
“Germany is probably the only country that, soon after World War II, took responsibility for its past and coped with it on almost all levels of society.
“I think that Germans still try to understand their past, despite the fact that you see more and more of them who are calling to end dealing with the past.”
Israeli criticism of Germany is focusing on three points: interference in Israel’s internal affairs; generous financing of political organizations in Israel and on the Palestinian side – including UNRWA; and lack of support in the international arena.
“We have to differentiate between critical dialogue and political pressure. We should nourish the first and put limits to the second.
“Those who wave at us an accusing finger are mainly coming from the pretentiously innocent progressive-left circles. They like to give us advice, what is right for us to do and what is not. More than once, elements within the German foreign ministry thought they knew, better than Israel, what is Israel’s best national interest.
“Here is an example: After we eliminated Hassan Nasrallah, former leader of Hezbollah, I was told that this act might destabilize the whole of Lebanon, and that would not serve Israel’s interests. Moreover, I was told that Nasrallah’s death wouldn’t be good for Israel. I responded by saying that only Israel and its government will decide what serves Israel’s national interest.
“Even after the ‘pagers operation,’ the accusing finger was pointed again at Israel and not at Hezbollah, God forbid.
“Regarding UNRWA, we presented the Germans with detailed information according to which 19 workers of this agency participated in the massacres of October 7. We gave them 1,462 names of UNRWA workers who had received salaries from Hamas. We showed how UNRWA educated hate in its schoolbooks.
“However, all this information didn’t bring the Germans to stop financing UNRWA or even admit that UNRWA is part of the problem and not the solution.
“I will continue working on this issue, which kept me busy already when I was serving as ambassador to the UN.
“On the issue of voting in the UN, it cannot be that a few days after October 7 Germany would abstain in a vote on a resolution that doesn’t mention Hamas or the Israeli hostages. Abstaining is not a position. I see in this issue of supporting Israel in the international arena a main layer of the war against the demonization and delegitimization of Israel. Our expectation from Germany is that it will stand more by our side.
“Having said all that, I would like to stress that after October 7 the German government under former chancellor Olaf Scholz stood firmly with us. The number of German politicians who visited Israel – the president, the chancellor, the president of the Bundestag, ministers – is without any comparison to other European countries.
“There is no doubt that, despite all criticism, Germany is our greatest friend in Europe and Israel’s second most important strategic partner in the world after the US.
“I expect that, with the new government, these ties will even get stronger. But I want to emphasize that the former chancellor was and is a great friend of Israel, and he showed it in his actions.”
However there was and still is a huge gap between the support to Israel of the political leadership and public opinion, which is far less supportive of Israel. The gap is growing bigger, especially among the young generations.
“This gap is real and a reason for concern,” warned Prosor. “The younger generations are less connected to the memory of the Holocaust and are more influenced by anti-Israeli and antisemitic propaganda spread by social networks. Polls show very clearly that 38% of the Germans agree that an end should be put to dealing with the Nazi past. Almost 13% don’t even know what the meaning of the term ‘Shoah’ is.
“On the governmental and political levels, there is still a commitment to the historical responsibility of Germany, even within the education system.
“But in the media, it diminishes. We see an increase of antisemitism under the cover of criticism of Israel. One can see it also in the academic sphere among the progressive Left. ‘Don’t buy Israeli products’ is the light version of ‘don’t buy by from the Jews.’ And that antisemitism is very frequent in the culture and art spheres.
“We are facing antisemitism from the political-right spectrum, Islamic antisemitism, and antisemitism from the progressive-left political spectrum.
“It is very clear in Germany what right-wing antisemitism is. The political and judicial systems here know how to identify it and deal with Nazis and fascists.
We’re not alone in this fight.
“With all what is happening now in Germany – terrorist attacks, Muslims demonstrate in the streets and shout that they want to establish in Germany a caliphate with Sharia [Islamic law] – it is relatively clear what Muslim antisemitism is, and also in dealing with it we are not necessarily alone.
“The front in which we find ourselves totally alone is that of the antisemitic progressive Left – in art, culture, media, and academia. We are witnessing the abuse of freedom of speech, the transformation of free speech into the freedom to incite. If filmmakers want to be accepted to the Berlin International Film Festival, they must first denounce Israel. Jews and Israelis are being brought onstage to promote hatred of Israel. They grant legitimacy to the delegitimization of Israel.
“In the past we didn’t react to such events. We are working both publicly and behind the scenes to combat this phenomenon. But the turning point came when Omri Boehm [an Israeli-German philosopher] – whose lifework, cloaked in academic respectability, is the trivialization of the Holocaust – was invited to speak at the memorial ceremony of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, all in the name of ‘freedom of speech.’ Following my direct intervention [and] by the head of the memorial foundation of Buchenwald, the speech was ultimately canceled.
“However, it is clear to us that the battle over the legacy of remembrance is far from over, and we will continue our efforts. The German political and judicial systems don’t know how to deal with such a phenomenon. Germany has to act against it according to the IHRA definition of antisemitism.”
Now that you are almost three years again in Berlin, do you have an explanation of why Berlin became a center of Israel hatred?
“Berlin was always a center of antiestablishment movements and multiculturalism. It has a big Muslim immigrant community. Thus a combination of the Muslim migratory elements and a very strong progressive Left was created. This combination expressed itself during the last electoral campaign within the radical-left parties, Die Linke and BSW. We see in Berlin the usage of violence, the situation in the universities.
“Recently I visited a school in the neighborhood of Neuköln, where many Middle Easterners live, and I tried to promote the idea of a student exchange with a school in Israel.
“The director listened politely and then answered. ‘Your excellency, it’s a great idea, but first I would like to organize such an exchange with a school from Prenzlauer Berg, a bourgeois neighborhood of Berlin. Eighty-five percent of the pupils in my school are Muslims.’”
A new German government was sworn in this week, on May 6, under the conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz. It’s the fourth “grand coalition” between the conservatives and their Social Democrat rivals in 20 years, however the first not led by Angela Merkel.
“I have big expectations from the new government,” said Prosor, “because the new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and his team are fully committed to Israel, they consider the strategic relations with Israel very important, they understand better the challenges that Israel is facing in our region and Israel’s legitimate right and duty to defend itself.
“In February 2024 I accompanied Merz, the new foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, and other members of the CDU on a visit to Israel. We visited northern Israel, and I could see how all of them understood the needs Israel has in the situation we are going through.”
The far-right party, Alternative for Germany, has become in the last general elections the second biggest party in the Bundestag. Latest polls suggest that if elections were held soon, it might even win an election. However, a few days ago the German internal intelligence agency declared that the AfD is considered an extreme-right party and as such it will be closely controlled by the agency. Such a drastic move, which was harshly criticized by the American administration as being antidemocratic, might lead to legally banning the AfD. Israel has been boycotting the AfD since its foundation in 2013.
“Israel has a very clear policy on this matter, as outlined by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar: there will be no contact whatsoever with the AfD at any level,” stressed Prosor.
“This is both a moral and a strategic stance. Morally – because this is a party with neo-Nazi and antisemitic roots. Strategically – because the AfD is surrounded by a political ‘firewall’ created by all other German parties. That firewall is no longer just political – Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, has officially classified the AfD as a proven right-wing extremist party. We have nothing to gain by engaging with a party that is boycotted across the political spectrum and is under legal surveillance.
“That said, I want to emphasize that what should concern us no less than the AfD are the antisemitic elements in the German Left, as seen within the Die Linke and BSW parties. We often focus on the AfD, but we face a serious problem within the progressive Left as well.”
So, you don’t see a possibility that the AfD will go through a process as did the French RN, which enabled the normalization of relations with Israel?
“I don’t think that’s possible at this stage. While not all members of the AfD are antisemites, some have made deeply troubling statements regarding Jewish life and the State of Israel. At present I see no real possibility for dialogue.
“That said, we must not turn a blind eye to parties on the Left that also contain antisemitic elements.”
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