1. AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION
NEWSLETTER
dubowdigest@optonline.net
GERMANY EDITION
July 29, 2011
Dear Friends:
My apologies for getting this edition out to you so late. However, a trip to the West
Coast, short weekend vacations, etc. plus some very hot weather when it was
almost impossible to write caused some serious laziness on my part. So, my
apologies!
The extreme heat has left us for a while so it’s just ordinary hot at the moment. The
U.S. debt ceiling debate in Washington (how much the U.S. is able to borrow) has
kidnapped most of the media headlines and added to the heat (but not the light). .
The Democrats and the Republicans in the Congress plus the President himself
seem to be involved in something like mud wrestling with, at this moment, no
resolution in sight. Something has to happen soon or the government won’t be able
to pay its bills. Given the state of our economy, there are a lot of Americans who are
already in that position.
The issues that I normally write about have certainly (again, at this moment) gotten
very little attention. However, the Palestinian situation is on schedule to come front
and center again in September when the battlefield of choice will be the United
Nations. While the media might not be paying much attention to it, the Jewish
community certainly is. Much of it is covered below.
Let’s get on with the non-debt ceiling news…
IN THIS EDITION
MIDDLE EAST EXPLANATION – An Arab journalist says it better than I can.
GAZA FLOTILLA FIZZLE – A political act dies before it starts.
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2. GAZA LUXURY? – Amongst poverty a 5 star hotel.
PALESTINIAN POVERTY – Will economic disaster change minds?
HOLDING ON – Small American Jewish communities try to survive.
U.S. FUNDING FOR ISRAEL – Congress holds steady. How come?
NORWAY EXTREMISM & THE JEWS – The implications of mass murder.
WORMS – The city, not the fish bait. Its great history
MIDDLE EAST EXPLANATION
Every once in a while I come across a “think piece” which says something I believe
thoroughly myself but says it a lot better than I could. Such a “paper’ is one written
by Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab Muslim, a veteran award-winning journalist who
has been covering Palestinian affairs for nearly three decades. He studied at
Hebrew University and began his career as a reporter by working for a PLO-affiliated
newspaper in Jerusalem.
Abu Toameh currently works for the international media, serving as the eyes and
ears of foreign journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Toameh’s piece was
published by the Hudson Institute (U.S.)
So, I am going to excerpt most of it so you will know what both he and I think about
the current Israel – Palestinian situation. It follows:
The Palestinians are divided today into two camps – one that is radical and another
that is less radical -- or "moderate" in the words of the West.
The radical camp is headed by Hamas and other extremist groups such as the
Islamic Jihad organization.
This camp's message is: We want 100% of everything and we will not make any
concessions to Israel. We want all the land, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan
River. We want to replace Israel with an Islamic state where Jews who wish to could
live as a minority.
There is no point in talking about the possibility of negotiating with this radical camp
about peace, especially as its declared goal is to eliminate Israel -- not make peace
with it.
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3. The only thing Israel could talk to the radicals about is how and when to dismantle
the Jewish state and send Israelis to Europe, Russia, the US and their Arab
countries of origin.
The less radical camp, headed by the PLO and a minority of secular Palestinians, is
also saying that it wants 100%, but only of the pre-1967 lines -– meaning the entire
West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
Like the radicals, the "moderate" camp is also saying that it will not and cannot make
any concessions to Israel on its territorial demands.
With such positions, it is hard to see how the peace process could lead to anything
positive. The radicals do not want to negotiate with Israel because they do not
recognize its right to exist and believe it should be wiped off the face of the earth.
The so-called moderates say they are ready to return to the negotiating table, but
only if Israel agrees in advance to give them 100% of their demands.
Yet the central problem is that even if Israel does accept all their demands, neither
camp is willing to commit to ending the conflict. This is basically why the 2000 Camp
David summit failed – because Yasser Arafat was not prepared to sign any
document that called for end of conflict even after a peace deal were reached
between Israel and the Palestinians.
Further, no "moderate" Palestinian leader would dare to sign such a document out of
fear of being denounced by his people -- and the rest of the Arab and Islamic
countries -- for having "sold out" to Israel by giving up the claim to all of the land.
Because the less-radical camp knows that Israel will not and cannot accept all their
demands, they have decided to stay away from the peace talks. They have instead
chosen to negotiate with the international community about the establishment of a
Palestinian state. That is why they prefer to negotiate with France, Germany, Britain
and South American countries about the two-state solution.
The Palestinian Authority, which today represents the less-radical camp, is hoping
that the international community will give the Palestinians what Israel is not giving it
at the negotiating table. The goal of the Palestinian Authority leadership is to
internationalize the conflict with the hope of imposing a solution on Israel. This is the
main reason why it has decided to go to the UN in September with a request to
recognize a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines.
The UN may approve the Palestinian Authority's request. But the Palestinians will
only get a state on paper – in the form of another meaningless UN resolution. The
only way to achieve a state is through negotiations with Israel, whether the
Palestinians like Israel or not.
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4. And the Palestinians have good reason to be optimistic about negotiations with
Israel. A majority of Jews, according to several public opinion polls, believe in the
two-state solution. The only debate inside Israel today is not whether there should
be a Palestinian state, but how much land the Palestinians will get.
Hence it would be wise if Mahmoud Abbas refrained from pushing Israel to the
corner through his statehood bid, and agreed to return immediately to the
negotiating table.
Moreover, Abbas needs to be warned that his September initiative could be
counterproductive for the Palestinians and damaging for the two-state solution. Such
an initiative would not only damage the Palestinians' relations with the US and most
EU countries, who are all opposed to the statehood plan; these parties have also
hinted that financial aid to the Palestinians would be affected if Abbas insisted on
proceeding with his plan. The Palestinians would then be held responsible for
sabotaging the peace process by embarking on a unilateral step in violation of the
Oslo Accords.
That's what the Palestinian Authority would say. The Americans and Europeans
disagree and that's why they are urging the Palestinians to return to the
negotiations. Add to this the fact that Israel has repeatedly expressed its desire to
resume the peace talks.
I could add my own commentary but, frankly, he has said it all. Punkt!
GAZA FLOTILLA FIZZLE
During the last couple of months in both DuBow Digest and your local media there
have been many stories about the second Flotilla that was forming in Greece and
would be trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The announced purpose of the blockade runners was to deliver humanitarian aid to
Gaza even though it is pretty well understood now that the Gazans have sufficient
medicines and foodstuffs. Those materials come through hundreds of illegal tunnels
and the through the Egyptian checkpoints which, by the way, are still not fully open
to their fellow Arabs. The Egyptians talk a good game but keep strict regulations in
force about passage of people and materials from/to Egypt.
Seeing the true agenda of the blockade runners as a political one and not
humanitarian at all, Israel, the U.S., the Quartet, the EU and the UN all were critical
of the flotilla exercise. The Greek government, following the UN position decided to
quarantine the 6 or 7 ships that were supposed to sail together as an armada. Most
of the ships are still being held by the Greeks.
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5. One ship, a French flag yacht carrying 10 people by saying they were bound for
another port was able to leave Greece. Y-Net News reported, “The Israeli Navy
stopped the Gaza-bound flotilla ship. Israeli marines met no resistance by the
activists. Around 10:30 am, Israel Navy ships intercepted the French vessel, hailed it
and informed it that is was nearing the Gaza blockade lines and must head to
Ashdod Port or Egypt.
The Navy stressed that at any time prior to marines boarding the ship, it will allow
the vessel to turn around and sail to another destination.
The ship refused to divert its course and was boarded… Navy sources said the
takeover was uneventful and that the passengers were transferred to one of the
naval ships participating in the mission, where a physician made sure they were in
good health and they were provided with food and water.
The Population and Immigration Authority (PIA) said the activists aboard the French
ship were effectively entering Israel illegally and will be dealt with as such.
The PIA said that the activists are likely to be deported, a process which will also bar
them from entering Israel in the next 10 years. The activists, the PIA added, will be
given the choice of flying back to their respective homelands immediately, or waiting
in detention facility for a hearing before a judge.
I think it has become clear to everyone that the flotilla idea was political to begin with
and was a Hamas public relations gimmick. This is not to say that the vast majority
of Gazans do not live on very little in the way of money and that many are
unemployed. However, I came across another article that I thought was interesting
that describes another side of what is going on in that God forsaken strip of land.
See below.
GAZA LUXURY?
One thing Gaza has going for it is that it sits directly on the Mediterranean. Y-Net
News in another story reported, “As the world deals with attempts to deliver aid to
Gaza the Strip's residents are preparing for the inauguration of a new luxury hotel.
The hotel, called Moby Dick, will be inaugurated in the coming days, and Gazans
hope it attracts not just Hamas men but also Western tourists. If they do arrive,
they'll be able to enjoy luxurious banquet halls made of marble and stone, first-class
restaurants and a shining swimming pool.
The inauguration of the new hotel is another sign of the economic recovery in the
Strip. Despite campaigns calling on Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, even Hamas
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh admits that things are going well.
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6. "We have emerged from the siege stage and are now at the development and
construction stage," he said. "We have no problem obtaining cement, iron and other
construction materials. The storehouses in Gaza are full – we received everything
through the tunnels."
Indeed, this summer marks the start of a new fashion in Gaza: Renting out rooms
on the beach. Such a room will cost a family about NIS 1,400 (about $405) a day
and the demand is high.
Where is the money coming from especially in such large amounts? Clearly the
tunnel operators and merchants are doing pretty well. I would imagine (no proof
though) that the Hamas big shots are also living a life somewhat better than the
average Gazan who is stuck with high prices and little income. My guess is that
eventually the average guy will look at the opulence and say to himself, “Is this what
all the dying, depravation and sordid living was all about?” I hope he does and if he
answers his own question truthfully perhaps common sense will prevail and some
sort of peace with Israel might eventuate.
PALESTINIAN POVERTY
After reading about Gaza luxury and writing the above piece, I came across another
story in the NY TIMES written by Ethan Bronner. It underlines my thoughts in the last
paragraph (above). He writes, “As the Palestinian Authority faces some of the
hardest choices in its history regarding relations with Israel, membership in the
United Nations and unity with Hamas, it is mired in a severe economic crisis, leading
many here to a sense of foreboding and despair.
More than 150,000 state employees, whose salaries support a million people, had
their wages cut in half this month. Palestinian banks have lent the government more
than $1 billion and do not want to lend more. Some ministries have temporarily lost
electricity because they have not paid their bills. Last week, the government ordered
a reduction in the price of bread, leading to bakery strikes. Garbage is piling up.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts next week; nightly family gatherings and
a three-day holiday mean that spending will double. Many people already have large
bank loans. September will bring bills for educational fees and school supplies; the
olive harvest, when Israeli settler violence is expected to increase; and a likely
diplomatic showdown at the United Nations.
“This is, without doubt, the worst financial crisis the Palestinian Authority has ever
faced,” said Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, generally known for a can-do, upbeat
attitude. “This could not have come at a worse time. I don’t know how this ends. I
don’t have an answer.”
I’m probably wrong and I probably do not think like a Palestinian. However, if I was
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7. one I’d be pushing hard for some sort of peace agreement so that my family could
have some semblance of a decent life. I’d be thinking, “Maybe I’m dreaming but is
this intolerable sort of life we’re living, which could change for the better, is stagnant
because we’re not willing to somehow recognize Israel as a Jewish state? Is it worth
it? There are 6 or 7 million Jews in Israel. They are not going anywhere and our
brothers can’t budge them. Maybe we can get some sort of diplomatic edge but how
long will it take before life becomes livable?”
The Bronner article gives more of the details regarding the Palestinian economy.
Click here to read it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/world/middleeast/28palestinians.html?ref=ethanbronner
HOLDING ON
Jews in the U.S. these days live in the large cities. It was not always so. The eastern
European immigration of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries brought Jews to many
smaller communities. Sometimes following relatives, they were able to establish
themselves frequently becoming small business workers and, eventually, owners.
Many small stores in these communities, especially ones that sold clothing, were
owned by Jews.
As the second, third and fourth generations grew up and became university
educated, a movement to larger cities, and places with more opportunities, resulted
in their leaving the small towns with very few Jews. Today many of these smaller
communities are struggling in an effort to keep Jewish life alive.
Howard Shapiro writing in The Forward tells the story of a few of these towns that
are trying to hold on to their Jewish culture and religious life. He writes, “In possibly
150 or so communities across the United States, a decline in Jewish numbers
mirrors Butte’s (Ed. Note: Butte, Montana), and although congregants may be in
denial, the responsibilities of running synagogues will eventually force them into
taking action. That action is becoming visible on several fronts, as synagogues look
for help with issues they never before considered, let alone imagined.
In the case of Butte’s B’nai Israel, it comes in the form of a congregational living will,
a way to plan for the day when there will be no B’nai Israel. The members have
turned to the Jewish Community Legacy Project, which helps synagogues so that
when the time comes, the institutions are not simply shuttered and abandoned.
In synagogues throughout the South, many dwindling congregations are turning to
another outlet, the Mississippi-based Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern
Jewish Life, for help. Much of the institute’s relief comes in providing ways to keep
congregations in operation — supplying educational programs or sending out Rabbi
Marshal Klaven to congregations with no active rabbi. Klaven has led services in 32
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8. Jewish congregations across the South in the past two years, from Mishkan Israel in
Selma, Ala., to Temple Israel in Paducah, Ky.
In some cases, synagogues look into mergers, combine educational services or
invite smaller havurot, fellowships, to share facilities — a practice that for some time
has brought in new members to synagogues looking to balance a budget. And while
some synagogues may be able to call on their congregants to stem losses in
membership that threaten their institutions’ futures, large gifts from individuals or
foundations have not been an answer to congregations in need of life support.
Stuart Rockoff, director of history for the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern
Jewish Life (notes) “My job is to make sure that the history of a congregation in a
community is not forgotten.”
The problem, he said, “is that much of the funding in the Jewish world is geared
toward the future, to creating the next generation of Jews.”
That generation is being created outside the places where many small-town Jews,
the current generation of parents, grew up. “We are a wandering people,” Evans
said. “The average life of a synagogue building in the United States today is 50
years. Populations shift. We move. Icons come and icons go. Hopefully, the Jewish
community lives on well beyond you and me.”
In my eyes the attempt to hold on to whatever Judaism is still alive in a community is
a noble effort. It’s probably a losing proposition but one should not just let history
deteriorate. Some people ask me why Germany is putting so much money into
rebuilding synagogues and cemeteries in places where there are no Jews. I answer
that Jewish life is part of their history and, therefore, important to their future. The
same thing hold true in Sumter, S.C. and Paducah, KY.
You can read the whole story by clicking here. http://www.jidaily.com/JeMmt/e
U.S. FUNDING FOR ISRAEL
The Democrats and Republicans in our Congress may not be able to agree on
much, especially financial matters. However, the one thing they seem to be able to
come together on is financial support for Israel.
JTA recently reported, “House Republican and Democratic appropriators said
assistance to Israel would continue at existing levels, although they agreed on little
else.
U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House of Representatives'
Appropriations Committee, in a joint statement with Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas),
chairwoman of the foreign operations subcommittee of Appropriations, said that
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9. Israel's $3.075 billion in aid would remain unaffected under the 2012 State and
Foreign Operations Act.
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the foreign operations
subcommittee, said she was "pleased" that the measure "fully funds our
commitment to ensure our ally Israel maintains its qualitative military edge," but she
decried other proposed cuts, saying the result would be to "downsize" the State
Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Granger countered that the cuts ensure "tough oversight and accountability."
The appropriations bill, which outlines spending, is a companion to the State
Department authorization bill approved last week by the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, which sets conditions for spending.
It is a little peculiar (especially to American Jews who always expect the worst) that
this little country (it is little in size) finds its way to great levels of support no matter
which party is in power. As I have tried to explain previously, it is not only the
“Jewish lobby”, which is well organized and effective that ensures Congressional
support. It is the sense of concern for the only democracy in the Middle East and a
sense of shared values that touches something deep in the American psyche.
Members of the Congress are affected as well and so support continues as before.
NORWAY EXTREMISM & THE JEWS
Sometimes those that claim to be your friends (or, at least your allies) are in reality
your worst enemies. Uriel Hellman writing in JTA notes, “…in recent years, as
European xenophobia has focused on the exploding growth of Muslims on the
continent, right-wing anti-Semitism has been replaced in some corners by outreach
to Jews and Israel. It’s part of an effort in far-right movements to gain broader,
mainstream support for an anti-Muslim alliance opposed to the notion of a
multicultural Europe.
Indeed, in the anti-Muslim manifesto attributed to Anders Behring Breivik, the
accused perpetrator of the July 22 deadly attacks in Oslo and the nearby Norwegian
island of Utoya, the pseudonymous author expresses sympathy for Israel’s plight
and cites numerous critiques of the Palestinians.
“Aided by a pre-existing anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, European media have
been willing to demonize the United States and Israel while remaining largely silent
on the topic Eurabia,” the author writes in his manifesto, titled “2083: A European
Declaration of Independence.”
Later, he lists four potential political allies among Israel’s political parties: Likud,
Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas and National Union.”
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10. Breivik’s apparent proto-Zionist viewpoint is shared by a number of far-right leaders
around Europe.
“The Arab-Israeli conflict illustrates the struggle between Western culture and radical
Islam,” Filip Dewinter, the head of Belgium’s far-right, anti-immigrant Vlaams Belang
Party, said last December during a visit to Tel Aviv.
"Israel is of central importance to us," German Freedom Party head Rene
Stadtkewitz told JTA last year. What Israelis do to fight terrorism, he said, "is what
we would have to be doing here. And I am very thankful that they are doing it."
About the last thing in the world Jews and Israel need is to be linked with people like
Breivik, DeWinter and Stadtkewitz.
Jewish leaders in Europe, who in recent days have taken pains to distance
themselves from Breivik’s proto-Zionism, long have warned that even far rightists
who do not espouse anti-Semitism are dangerous for the Jews.
Far rightists “want a Sweden for the Swedes, France for the French and Jews to
Israel,” Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary general of the European Jewish Congress,
told JTA last October.
“Islamism certainly is a danger to the Jews and to Western democracy,” Stephan
Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told JTA last
year. “The way to fight [Islamists] is not, however, to demonize and ostracize all
Muslims.”
“A large-scale hate crime attack such as the one in Norway demonstrates the clear
and present danger of incitement against political, ethnic and religious groups,” said
Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Berlin Ramer Institute
for German-Jewish Relations. “Hate crimes are among the most insidious of
dangers to democracy.”
One cannot blame what happened in Oslo on all Norwegians. However, it is well
known that Norway has the reputation as the most anti-Israel tending toward anti-
Semitism country in Europe. When hate is in the air it’s like a virus. It spreads.
Norway should think long and hard about itself.
WORMS
Michael Brenner, a German-Jewish Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
München reviewed a book, German City, Jewish Memory: The Story of Worms. by
Nils H. Roemer which appeared in Humanities & Social Science On-Line.
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11. I’m sure most Germans are familiar with the small city of Worms but I wonder how
many are familiar with its important Jewish history. Brenner writes, “There is no lack
of local German-Jewish histories. Before 1933 they were typically written by the
local rabbi. In the last three or four decades, non-Jewish archivists, teachers, and
amateur historians made it their task to record the history of the now-oft
extinguished Jewish histories in their places of residence. This book, however, is not
just another local history. It is the first account of the memory of a particular Jewish
community. No other place is better suited for such a study than the community of
Worms. Much beyond its local significance, Worms has become the foremost lieu de
memoire of Ashkenaz. In the words of former Israeli president Chaim Herzog, the
city was “a symbol of the great and tragic drama of European Jewish fate as it is
symbolic of the remarkable interweaving--for better or worse--of German and Jewish
life for a thousand years” (p. 1).
Worms is best known for its medieval past, both in German and Jewish memory: the
site of the Nibelungen and German emperors was also the place were Rashi studied
and where the oldest European synagogue stood until its destruction in 1938. In the
modern period Worms became increasingly peripheral. Today Worms is a marginal
town of 80,000 inhabitants. Roemer writes about its rich history and its decline, but
more than that he traces the recollection and invention of local Jewish traditions.
The narratives about the city’s mythic Jewish origins, the memory of its rabbi-
scholars and martyrs, and the rich folkloristic lore developed by the descendents of
Worms Jews serve as an excellent example for the way Jewish identity was shaped
in the pre-modern period.
One particularity of Worms’s Jewish history is its continuity. Among the cities located
in today’s Germany, only Worms and Frankfurt can look back on a Jewish history
that was not abruptly ended by expulsion in the late Middle Ages or the early
modern period. Worms, the third-largest community after Prague and Frankfurt in
the early modern period, retained a distinct Jewish cultural heritage well into the
twentieth century.
The recording of Jewish memory started long before modern historiography. As in
many other places, the local martyrs, starting with the victims of the first crusade of
1096, were memorized in a Memorbuch. On the other side of the memory spectrum,
the blind-folded Synagogue at the Worms Cathedral shaped the view many
Christian citizens had of their Jewish neighbors. Another memory still visible today is
the medieval Jewish cemetery with gravestones of Jewish luminaries, among them
the famous thirteenth-century rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, who was captured on his
journey to the Holy Land and died in prison after being brutally tortured. His and
other graves became sites of early pilgrimages and made Worms an attraction for
Jewish travelers already before the age of mass tourism.
Brenner continues on about the history of Worms. His review of Roemer’s book
should whet the appetite of those who are interested in German Jewish history and
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12. its implications for today’s German and Jewish contemporary life. I’m sure its
worthwhile reading.
See you again in August
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