DuBow Digest Germany Edition May 2015

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AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION
NEWSLETTER
dubowdigest@optonline.net
GERMANY EDITION
May 2015
IN THIS EDITION
RIVLIN IN GERMANY: AN ISRAELI & JEWISH VIEW – The Israeli President’s visit as
seen from the Jewish side.
THE U.S. & ISRAEL – A new government and the same old problems.
SETTLEMENTS: THE FUTURE? – A new bad idea.
RACISM IN ISRAEL – Yes! Even in Israel.
FLAGS – The symbolic importance of removal.
WHO ARE WE? – Changes in American Jewry.
Dear Friends:
The month of May (if you live in New York’s Hudson Valley) always seems to be a time
of re-birth. The flowers and trees are in full bloom after a long winter repose. It’s a good
time to think about the past and to look forward to the future. As I peered at the mass of
greenery outside my window I thought about the fact that, though I really have not kept
any records, DuBow Digest is entering its 7th year. What started out as a memo to a
small group who were getting ready to visit Germany, it has blossomed over the years
into two full-blown newsletters with a combined mailing list of almost 2,000. In addition
both are posted on websites which are read by many others.
I thought that this is a good time to restate for you what DD is all about.
So…What it aims to be is spelled out clearly in its masthead. Look up and you’ll see it.
The American Edition is aimed mostly at an American audience and primarily covers

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news items pertaining to Germany and German – Jewish relations.
The Germany Edition is primarily focused for readers in Germany. It covers American
Jews, Israel and anything about world-wide Jewry that I think Germans might be
interested in. Many people (Germans and non-Germans) like to get both.
BTW, if you get one edition and not the other but want both, just let me know.
Though my almost half a century connection to AJC is an essential part of my being, DD
is independent, not connected to AJC and is underwritten by me personally. I have often
said that if you want to bring suit against DD for some reason, sue me and not AJC. I
have an outstanding staff of one (me) that writes and formats the whole thing..
I have never “marketed” DD. Readers supply me with lists and e-mail addresses of
prospective readers and I immediately add them to the mailing list. If you know of
anyone who might be interested in the subject matter that DD covers just drop me a line
at dubowdigest@email.com and I’ll do the rest.
That’s the whole story.
Let’s get on with the news…
RIVLIN IN GERMANY: AN ISRAELI & JEWISH VIEW
Unless you have been totally out of touch with what is going on the world; it would have
been hard for you to miss the fact that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin paid a state visit
to Germany to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations
between the two nations.
Since this newsletter is aimed mostly at people living in Germany, I thought it might be
interesting to see how the visit “played” in the Israeli and Jewish press.
The Jerusalem Post noted, “Reuven Rivlin, as a young man, was opposed to diplomatic
relations between Israel and Germany. Today, as Israel’s 75-year-old president, Rivlin
sees the benefit of this relationship through the sharing of common values and
Germany’s support of Israel in international forums.
To its credit, Germany made no effort to evade recognition of its grim past, and included
Holocaust-related commemorations in Rivlin’s agenda.
There was no stiff formality in Gauck’s greeting. He crossed the red carpet to clasp
Rivlin in an embrace and in his speech of welcome underscored the special relations
between their two countries, emphasizing that they would always remain that way.
The German president repeated what the country’s leaders have been saying for
decades, namely that Germany is conscious of its responsibility to the Jewish people

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and the State of Israel, and that this responsibility will remain constant.
Rivlin recalled that when he protested against the arrival of Germany’s first ambassador
to Israel, there was something unnatural in relations between Germany and Israel – but
his current visit to Germany was to mark 50 years of close friendship.
Following a private meeting, the two presidents inaugurated a jubilee stamp that had
been jointly designed in Israel and Germany.
Rivlin thanked Gauck for the invitation to participate in the jubilee festivities and
declared that the achievements of the two countries over the past 50 years and the
strong bonds that had been forged in the social, economic, and security spheres were
without doubt strong and significant despite a complicated shared history.
What the two countries share today, Rivlin noted, are democracy, freedom of
expression, and equal rights. As he has stated many times in Israel, Rivlin reiterated in
Germany that the closeness in the relationship between the two countries should in no
way be construed as compensation for the Holocaust, but is based on shared values
and on lessons jointly learned from the past.
Rivlin also voiced his concern about rising anti-Semitism in Europe
Roi Yanovsky writing in Y-Net News, reported, “President visits shipyard in Kiel,
Germany where Israeli commandos train to operate new INS Rahav, which is expected
to arrive in Israel in the coming year.
“You are our fortified wall on our maritime borders, and nowhere is too far for you when
it comes to Israel’s safety," the president told the submarine commandos.
The INS Rahav was launched some two years ago and will arrive in Israel this year.
According to an agreement with Germany, Israel will procure a sixth submarine in the
future.
The president was welcomed by the naval commandos who have been staying in Kiel
for several years now to prepare the submarine for its arrival in Israel.
Colonel A, head of the Dolphin submarine AIP project (a propulsion system for
submarines not reliant on external air) attended the event along with the commander of
the submarine Lieutenant Colonel S.
Colonel A presented President Rivlin with a picture of former prime minister David Ben
Gurion looking through a periscope of a INS Rahav submarine, which Israel's first prime
minister named.
The submarine commandos introduced themselves to Rivlin and told him about their
families who had joined them during their mission in Kiel, as well as their years of
training in the IDF.

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Before he met with the Israeli commandos, Rivlin was greeted by Kiel shipyard officials
who briefed him on a range of joint projects between the Kiel shipyard and the Israeli
Navy.
The shipyard officials also briefed him on the project's progress which includes four
ships to be sent to Israel for the protection of gas rigs in Israel's "economic waters."
On Monday, the director-general of the Defense Ministry, Dan Harel, signed the deal
worth 1.8 billion shekel (430 million Euro). Germany will subsidize about a third of the
deal.
This article told me something I did not know before, namely that an Israeli naval
commando unit has been stationed in Kiel “for several years now to prepare the
submarine for its arrival in Israel”. It appears that the military cooperation between the
two countries is closer than previously reported.
In another story JPUpdates reported, “Both Presidents also met with the youth congress
at the Kalksheune building. The youth congress is made up of 300 Israelis and
Germans between the ages of 18-30, who have taken part in partnership projects in a
range of fields in arts and culture. During the meeting, which focused on the realities of
life in Israel society, Holocaust remembrance in Israel, among other socio-economic
issues, the participants presented some of the projects to the two Presidents.
President Rivlin opened his address by stressing the importance of remembering the
horrors of the Holocaust, and with the obligation never to forget, the need to be sure
that the horrors of the past would not dictate the shape of the future. “The horrors of the
past, as the threats of the present will not dictate our lives nor shape, the lives of our
children. We forever strive for a better future. The strong, and deep friendship we
celebrate this year, between Israel and Germany, was made possible by Germany
taking responsibility for the crimes of the past. And so, we made a decision that our
relationship would never be compensation for that dark history, but that its lessons
would guide us to a better future. The future is not only what we dream of at night, but
what we work for each day. Our good relations are built on the foundation of shared
values and a deep faith, in human dignity, and freedom.”
President Rivlin thanked the Israeli and German students participating in the congress,
and said, “In the last decades, Israelis and Germans have been working together to
make this world a better place – exemplified by the wonderful projects we saw here
today in theater and arts. I want to thank you, our dear young friends, for not allowing us
to ever forget, our obligation to make this world a more understanding, and
compassionate one. For not allowing us, to even consider losing our hope for a better
future. Today, Israel and Germany, stand firm in the face of the challenge of the rise of
fundamentalism, extremism, and yes, racism and anti-Semitism. It is our deep
friendship that will allow us to overcome these challenges. It is my belief that no free
nation, no free people, can or should, stand alone.”
There is, of course, more as an Israeli President visiting Germany is a major news story.
In reading the coverage I would have to say that whoever planned the trip did a great

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job. It touched all the important bases. The two Presidents seemed to have gotten along
well and none of the friction that usually accompanies P.M. Netanyahu was totally
absent in this case. Properly, all discussion about the political scene and the
Palestinians was absent.
I don’t see how it could have gone better.
THE U.S. & ISRAEL
The Israeli election is now history and to the surprise of many (including almost all the
pollsters) Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu and his Likud Party came out the victors. In putting
together a coalition government, Netanyahu has moved to the right and established a
government of nationalist and ultra-religious parties. Does that mean a further chilling in
the relationship between Israel and the U.S.? Not necessarily says Aaron David Miller, a
noted commentator on Middle East issues.
Writing in FP Miller notes, “Supporters of Israel, primarily in the pro-Israeli Jewish
community in the United States, worry greatly that a second-term U.S. president freed
from the constraints of reelection pressures, and already angry and frustrated with
Netanyahu’s behavior, will take him to the woodshed and pressure Netanyahu on
settlements, and, if necessary, add America’s support to the growing campaign for
Palestinian statehood at the U.N. Critics eagerly anticipate and hope for the whipping.
After all, given the history of tensions in the relationship, isn’t a worsening of ties
inevitable? In the last 20 months of the Obama administration aren’t we going to see a
collision between a willful U.S. president and a tough-talking prime minister playing
games on Palestinian statehood and presiding over a coalition of Haredis and right-wing
Zionists?
Not so fast. I don’t doubt the mistrust and animus on each side. Nor do I trivialize the
divide that separates Obama and Netanyahu on a variety of issues. At the same time,
I’m not all that sure that the expected confrontation is as inevitable as it might appear —
at least for much of 2015. And here’s why.
Governing is about choosing. And right now the Obama administration’s main priority is
negotiating, selling and implementing the Iran deal.
The last thing the president wants or needs now is to open a second front with Israel on
either Iran or the Palestinian issue. What’s more is that once the deal is concluded we’ll
be entering a fairly prolonged period where implementation of the deal will be key.
Congress and every 2016 presidential candidate will be watching like hawks to see if
the administration has been snookered by Iran. And so will the Saudis and Israelis. The
process of reassuring the Gulf Arabs will ramp up into high gear at this week’s Camp
David summit. So there will have to be an Israeli piece of the reassurance package as
well. The actual conclusion of a U.S.-Iran deal will be huge news, create piles of broken
crockery in the U.S.-Israeli relationship, and to secure formal Congressional buy-in will

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require more than just a set of “just get over it” talking points for Israel. This is likely to
take the form of more military hardware and intelligence cooperation. Nor should we
rule out — even with the White House’s recent cold-shoulder policy — an Obama-
Netanyahu meeting.
Then there’s the separate but very much related question of selling more military
hardware to the Gulf States. It’s the cruelest of ironies for the prime minister that not
only is he getting an Iran deal he hates; he’s also going to be faced with the prospects
of more arms for the Arabs. And this is the double whammy that will likely require the
administration to use more honey on the Israelis and less vinegar, most likely in the
form of enhanced military cooperation, intelligence sharing, and the transfer of
sophisticated aircraft like the F35 (which the United States has already authorized). It
really will be tough for the president to shower the Arabs with hugs, kisses,
sophisticated weapons and presidential summits and leave the Israelis out in the cold.
It may well be that for any number of reasons — including the need to sell the Iranian
deal, and pressure from Democrats and the pro-Israeli community — that the
administration has begun to dial down its public fight. There appears to be more adult
supervision in handling the U.S.-Israeli relationship in the White House. And it makes
sense, particularly in the aftermath of Netanyahu’s reelection. The president may be
frustrated. But he can’t afford to create the impression that he doesn’t accept the results
of a democratic election.
Netanyahu has no desire for a major fight now; he’ll have his hands full managing his
government. If Netanyahu again intervenes in U.S. politics and makes a concerted effort
to sink the Iran agreement or engages in a frenzy of settlement activity that goes
beyond anything we’ve seen, relations could worsen.
But even if they do, how bad could things really get? The administration isn’t going to
sanction Israel, cut off aid, or unilaterally impose Palestinian statehood. Despite
Obama’s frustration (and even anger) with Netanyahu, Israel will remain a close ally in a
region where America has few stable friends and where even America’s partners and
certainly its enemies are behaving far worse than Israel.
There’s more to Miller’s article, however, I think I’ve excerpted the important elements.
There is no doubt that the Israeli and U.S. governments do not see eye to eye on the
issues of Iran and the Palestinians. I believe, as does Miller, that the relationship
between the two countries is so strong and important for both, that no matter what
happens the relationship can and will weather the storm.
If you would like to read the entirety of Miller’s article click on the link that follows.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/12/the-coalition-time-out-israel-obama-netanyahu/
SETTLEMENTS: THE FUTURE?
The inability to move forward on the Palestinian – Israeli situation is a constant in any
discussion of the possibilities of Middle East peace. Israelis started to live in the “West

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Bank” after the 1967 War ended. In June it will be 48 years since the first settlers
arrived. Of course, many of the present residents consider the land part of Israel so
removing them would be a major (impossible?) undertaking. For the moment let’s not
even get into that.
While the Obama Administration seems poised to push Israel and the Palestinians back
to the negotiating table once the Iran nuclear matter is out of the way (Very big “if” and a
very big “when”). What sort of agreement could be reached? In my opinion not a very
good one. However, if some miracle brought forth an agreement what would happen to
the settlers who live in what might become Palestine? Two of the more conservative
thinkers on the matter dip their fingers into the boiling cauldron of emotion and come up
with what they believe is “thinking outside the box”
Outside the major settlement blocs there are now about 100,000 Jews. With movement
of those in the blocs and in Jerusalem pretty much off the table, (Mosaic), “…Elliott
Abrams and Uri Sadot, [note that] the Jewish population in these areas has been
growing steadily over the past several years, most likely due to the growth of families
already living there. If this trend continues, it will have important policy implications.
Even at current population-growth rates, the idea of over 100,000 Israelis living outside
the major settlement blocs may render the Clinton parameters for a peace agreement
increasingly irrelevant. The idea of evacuating every Israeli living [in such places] will
seem increasingly unrealistic. The United States may be forced to move, then, from
insisting on their removal to challenging the Palestinian insistence that every single one
of them leave. The old idea that Palestine must be totally free of Jews has always been
morally offensive; with every passing year it also becomes more and more impractical. It
could gradually be replaced with the understanding that a certain number of Jews will
remain as resident aliens if a Palestinian state is ever to be established.
With 1.7 million Arabs living as full citizens in Israel, the idea of tens of thousands of
Jews living in Palestine should not seem beyond consideration. Security arrangements
for Israelis who voluntarily choose to live in a Palestinian state rather than move back to
Israel would be immensely complicated, and in many eyes impossible. But the same
can be said about any plan that would force tens of thousands of them to leave their
homes.
With no Palestinian state likely for the foreseeable future, much more attention should
be dedicated to real life on the ground today: Hamas’s activities in Gaza, the
performance of the Palestinian Authority and its institutions, the lack of democratic
institutions and free elections, current security arrangements, and measures to help the
West Bank economy, for example. The sole focus on getting back to the negotiating
table is at odds with reality in the Middle East.
Frankly, while I agree that any peace agreement is a long way off, the idea of a
substantial number of Israelis living in Palestine seems absolutely absurd.
I’m sorry to say that I believe that the Palestinian leadership (perhaps not the populace)

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is involved in a zero-sum game. Abrams and Sadot suggest that focus on “the lack of
democratic institutions and free elections, current security arrangements, and measures
to help the West Bank economy” might bring some results. I agree!
So, how do I see the future? Pretty much the way I see the present. It’s not a happy
thought but it’s about the best I can do.
RACISM IN ISRAEL
As hard as it is for Jews to swallow, there is racial discrimination in Israel aimed at
fellow Jews, Ethiopian Jews, who are unquestionably black in color. Judy Maltz writing
in Haaretz recently noted, “Ever since they began immigrating in 1984, Ethiopian Jews
feel they have been discriminated against because of the color of their skin.
It finally came to the surface with demonstrations and violence.
The catalyst for the violent protests that brought thousands of Ethiopian Israelis out to
the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv this week was a video that went viral — by now,
around the world. The clip showed two policemen beating a young Ethiopian Israeli
soldier who did not promptly obey their order to move away from an area they were
clearing.
It was not an isolated incident, though. Israelis of Ethiopian descent have been
complaining for years about “excess policing” — a term they use to define law-
enforcement officials’ tendency to harass them, detain them and put them behind bars
simply because they don’t have white skin.
It’s hardly coincidental, they say, that young Ethiopian men are overrepresented in
Israeli prisons — an estimated one-third of the 200 or so teens in Israel’s juvenile prison
are of Ethiopian descent.
But it doesn’t account for all the pent-up anger that is suddenly boiling over. Rather, it
should be seen as the latest in a string of indignities that Ethiopian Jews say they have
been forced to suffer since arriving in the country three decades ago.
The initial slap in the face came soon after Operation Moses, the first major wave of
immigration, which brought roughly 7,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984 and 1985.
Although the Chief Rabbinate recognized them as Jews, it insisted that they undergo a
symbolic immersion ceremony upon arriving in the country to put to rest any doubts
about their Jewishness. Flabbergasted that they were the only community to be singled
out for this ritual, many of the new immigrants took to the streets in protest.
Ethiopian Israelis have often complained that they are made to feel like second-class
Jews. The Falashmura, descendants of Ethiopian Jews who were forced to convert to
Christianity and began arriving in Israel about 20 years ago, have been required to
undergo actual conversion in Israel — not only the immersion ritual — to be eligible for
citizenship.

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Questions have been raised not only about their Jewish credentials. About 20 years
ago, it was revealed that Israeli hospitals were secretly discarding blood donations from
Ethiopian immigrants out of fear they were HIV carriers. The disclosures sparked a
public outcry, with community leaders reading this as yet another sign of racial
discrimination.
Adding to their grievances were reports several years ago that Israeli health officials
had for many years actively encouraged Ethiopian woman to take long-term birth control
injections. This happened in a country that values few things more than childbearing.
Interviewed on Israeli television, several women testified in 2013 that they had been
coerced into taking the injections while still in transit camps in Ethiopia.
An estimated 126,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent live in Israel today, accounting for 2
percent of the population. After Operation Moses, the next big immigration wave came
in 1991, when Israel airlifted more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to the country in a covert
36-hour operation that came to be known as Operation Solomon. This second operation
overlapped with the huge immigration wave just getting under way from what was still
the Soviet Union.
The Soviet immigrants came in much larger numbers and from a very different culture.
But that was not all that set them apart. Unlike the Ethiopian immigrants, the Russian-
speakers integrated remarkably well into Israeli society, advancing quickly to leadership
positions in all spheres of life.
The latest Joint Distribution Committee report, published in 2012 by the Brookdale
Institute in Jerusalem, shows that the Ethiopian Israeli community continues to lag
behind in almost all socioeconomic indicators, although gaps have been narrowing in
certain areas.
This new generation of nonconformist Ethiopians was heavily represented at Sunday’s
demonstration in Tel Aviv. Plainly defying the religious laws of modesty that are widely
accepted in the community, many of the young women sported snug-fitting jeans and
very short skirts.
And there were also many bareheaded young men among the protesters, more than a
few sporting dreadlocks. They seemed to characterize a new generation of outspoken
hipster Ethiopians no longer wanting to be told what to wear and how to behave.
“These are kids who were born here, who have been trying their entire lives to fit in,”
says Mola, who spent most of the night with them at the demonstration. “But they now
understand that they’re not the same. They feel they are Israeli, but Israelis with a big
problem.”
In thinking about it, I found myself saying , “Why should Israel be any different? Jews, of
course, should be very much more sensitive about any form of discrimination but they,
like the rest of us, live in a racist world.”. Having said that, being Jews, they should do
something about it and do it fast.
One has to give P.M. Netanyahu credit for immediately inviting and meeting with the

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Ethiopian Israeli soldier who was assaulted needlessly by the police. In an address to
the Knesset, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday in an address to
Knesset that the government of Israel was determined to change the situation on the
ground for the Ethiopian Israeli community, following days of violent protests over
claims of racism and police brutality.
"The Israel Police is determined to change the situation on all ends," he said, at a
ceremony marking the birthday of Zionist founding father Theodor Herzl. "The orders
have been given to those in the field, and I have no doubt that we will succeed. We all
understand the need for this and the value of it. I promised that we would deal with
these troubles. We will uproot from within us this arbitrary violence."
You can read more about it by clicking here:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/1.654933
In the final analysis it is the action that will follow that is what really counts. Police
actions may moderate and change but the real problem is how the society reacts. That’s
the tough part. Only time will tell that story.
P.S. Another article on the subject from The Jewish Week can be accessed by clicking
here. http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/israel-news/decades-frustration-ethiopian-
jews-0
FLAGS
National flags are visible symbols of the entity they represent. While they themselves
are not much more than pieces of cloth, their symbolic and emotional value represent
those associated with the entity. Frequently, flags alone speak for a group numbering in
the millions.
So, when it came to pass a few weeks ago that the Berlin Police took away an Israeli
flag from a fan at a football (soccer) game because they thought it might be
confrontational to other, perhaps Arab, spectators, it was not something that would pass
unnoticed.
Ben Weinthal reporting in the Jerusalem Post wrote, “The Police removal of an Israeli
flag unfurled at a soccer match in Berlin last week to preempt Palestinian anger is part
of a longstanding practice of shunning the Jewish state’s flag in Germany.
The pattern typically unfolds in three acts.
Act 1 involves German Muslims and leftists protesting against Israel for defending its
territory against Hamas rocket attacks or other self-defense measures to blunt Islamic
terrorism. Act 2 unfolds with the police seizing Israeli flags at solidarity protests to
placate anti-Israeli activists. Act 3 results in the authorities issuing an apology for
outlawing Israel’s flag from demonstrations.

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Rewind to 2009. During an anti-Israeli demonstration organized by the Turkish Islamic
group, Millî Görüş, and attended by 10,000 protesters, two police officers stormed the
apartment of a pro-Israel activist and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and
inside a window. The Duisburg police chief justified the removal of the flags to “prevent
an escalation.” Prior to the storming of the apartment, Islamists pelted the flags with
objects.
Pro-Israeli activists, including one with a flag, were taken into police custody in the city
of Düsseldorf during Operation Cast Lead against Hamas. The raw anger of members
of the “Mainz initiative for peace in Gaza” compelled five young men holding an Israeli
flag to flee into a department store in the city of Mainz.
According to a 2009 article in the Frankfurter Rundschau, Thilo Henke, a spokesman for
the group Antifacism-AG Mainz, said the police “view only the Israel solidarity people as
the problem.”
The complaint that the authorities align themselves with anti-Israel activists weaves
itself through the scores of examples where there is a crackdown on Israeli flags. Anti-
Israel bias is not happening in a vacuum.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the head of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, told The
Jerusalem Post, “The campaign to make the Israeli flag disappear from public events in
Germany is another stage in the demonization of the Jewish state. With many
nongovernmental organizations, including those receiving government money, as well
as powerful church groups such as Misereor, spreading anti-Israel propaganda through
false claims of war crimes, the hate and intolerance of Israel in Germany, particularly
among the Muslim population, is growing.”
In response to the memory of the Holocaust and pathological feelings of guilt
accompanying the crimes of the Shoah, German leftists turned Israel’s flag into a
punching bag. Israeli and American flags were burned in 1978 on the 40th anniversary
of the Kristallnacht pogroms. The elimination of Israel’s flag became a way to attack
Jews via a non-bodily form of violence.
However, ballooning and acceptable anti-Israel hysteria has led to attempted violence
on supporters of the Jewish state. A group of pro-Israel lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender activists participated in a demonstration to celebrate Christopher Street
Day in 2003 – the annual celebration of LGBT rights. Enraged counter-protesters in the
heavily populated German Muslim districts of Kreuzberg and Berlin-Neukölln called for
the Israeli flag to be removed and labeled it a “shitty flag.” One left-wing protester
attempted to burn the flag with cigarettes.
According to the German criminal law expert Wolfgang Mitsch, “whoever publicly burns
[an Israeli flag] can be prosecuted for incitement to hate.”

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Mitsch claims the burning of the flag will not be tolerated because of the Holocaust.
While flag burning could be prosecuted as a possible crime, the seizure of Israeli flags
seems to get a free pass. Police officials have faced no disciplinary actions for trampling
over free speech rights during their removal.
Steinberg said, “A few days ago, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung held a public event in Berlin
on Israel, in which they promised ‘critical solidarity.’ The critical dimension, not only for
this organization, but many other German groups, is clear, but the solidarity exists only
in words. The Israeli flag issue is an obvious example – the German mainstream
political groups that promote values such as democracy and freedom of speech, and
oppose anti-Semitism, only take the easy cases. Instead of silence, all of the Stiftungen,
which have major operations in Israel, should unite and oppose this trend of demonizing
Israel.”
Dr. Charles Asher Small, the director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-
Semitism and Policy, told the Post that it is “shocking that Germans have not learned
from their history. They need to confront it.”
This year’s celebration of 50 years of German-Israeli diplomatic relations will surely
provide opportunities to grapple with the reflexive act to ban Israeli flag as anticipatory
capitulation to anti-Israel forces.
Perhaps we should cut the police some slack in this particular case. Most members of
the force are not historians or political scientists. Perhaps the officers in question were
just trying in their own not very thoughtful way to head off a riot. However, what about
the higher ups in the Berlin Police or the politicians that oversee them? Are steps being
taken to insure safety for any and all who are legally making a statement by holding up
an Israeli flag?
If, as Ben Weinthal states, “[there is] a longstanding practice of shunning the Jewish
state’s flag in Germany” that is a serious matter that deserves a thorough investigation
and political action if that is necessary. As Dr. Small points out, “They need to confront
it.”
WHO ARE WE?
Well, whoever we are, we’re not like we used to be. A recent study done by the Pew
Research Center indicates there are many changes in the American Jewish community.
JTA reported, “The Pew Research Center’s newly released 2014 U.S. Religious
Landscape Study offers a trove of data on American Jews based on interviews with
35,071 American adults, 847 of whom identified their faith as Jewish. Here are some of
the more interesting findings about the Jews.

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We’re highly educated! There are more American Jews with two or more university
degrees than those who have just one – 31 percent have a graduate degree and 29
percent have just a bachelor’s degree. With a college graduation rate of about 59
percent (more than twice the national average of 27 percent), American Jews are the
second most-educated religious group in America after Hindus, at 77 percent.
We’re the biggest religious minority! Judaism is the largest faith group in America
after Christianity, and its relative size in America has grown slightly since 2007 – from
1.7 percent of the U.S. population in 2007 to 1.9 percent in 2014. The denominational
breakdown of Jews who identify with the Jewish faith (“Jews by religion”) is 44 percent
Reform, 22 percent Conservative, 14 percent Orthodox, 5 percent another movement
and 16 percent no denomination.
We’re not as white as we used to be: American Jewish adults are 90 percent white, 2
percent black, 4 percent Latino, 2 percent Asian-American and 2 percent “other non-
Hispanic.” That’s a notable change from 2007, when whites comprised 95 percent of
American Jews, Latinos comprised 3 percent, blacks comprised 1 percent and the
percentage of Asians was negligible.
A quarter of us are losing our religion: When it comes to religious retention rates,
American Jews come in third, retaining 75 percent of those raised Jewish. By
comparison, Hindus retain 80 percent and Muslims 77 percent. Behind the Jews are
Evangelical Christians at 65 percent; Mormons, 64 percent; Catholics, 59 percent; and
mainline Protestants, 45 percent. Jehovah’s Witnesses retain only 34 percent.
But 17 percent of us have found Judaism! Seventeen percent of American Jews say
they were raised in another religion. Six percent say they were raised unaffiliated, 4
percent as mainline Protestant, 3 percent as Catholic, and 2 percent each as
Evangelical and in some other religion.
Who are we marrying? Sixty-five percent of American Jews who are married or living
with a partner are with a Jew and 35 percent are with a non-Jew. Nine percent of
American Jews are partnered with Catholics, 8 percent with mainline Protestants, 4
percent with peoples of other faiths and 11 percent with unaffiliated Americans.
Nu, when are we going to get married already? The percentage of Jewish adult
singles is growing – up from 19 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2014. Fifty-six percent
of Jewish adults are married, and another 6 percent are living with a partner. Fifteen
percent were married but are now separated, divorced or widowed. The Jewish fertility
rate is 2.0 children, compared to 2.1 children for all Americans.
We’re mostly American born and bred: Sixty-six percent of Jewish adults are
Americans born to American-born parents. Of the 12 percent of American Jews who are
immigrants, 5 percent were born in Europe, 4 percent in the Americas, 2 percent in the
Middle East and 1 percent in the Asia-Pacific region.
We still heart New York: Where do America’s Jews live? Forty-two percent in the
Northeast, 27 percent in the South, 20 percent in the West and 11 percent in the

14
Midwest. In the Northeast, where Jews are most numerous, Jews comprise roughly 4
percent of the total population. Eight percent of the New York City area is Jewish.
We’re rich! (but also poor): American Jews (44 percent) are more than twice as likely
as average Americans (19 percent) to have annual household incomes over $100,000.
But 16 percent of Jewish adults have annual household incomes of $30,000 or less, and
15 percent live in households that earn between $30,000 and $50,000.
(The Jewish data in the survey has a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.)
I’m not a sociologist or a statistician but it seems to me from the above findings that
American Jews are following many well established American patterns but certainly not
all. For instance, while more Jews are living together in an unmarried status, the level of
education is far higher than that of other American groups – or Americans in general.
With all the crying and rending of garments over the decline of both Reform and
Conservative Jewry, I see that both maintain themselves as the movements with the
largest percentage of American Jews.
Perhaps I am Pollyanna but I see American Jewry continuing its success in the
American society with a notable continuing commitment to their Jewish heritage.
********************************************************************************************
See you again in June.
DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be reached
at dubowdigest@email.com
Both the American and Germany editions are posted at www.dubowdigest.net

DuBow Digest Germany Edition May 2015

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DuBow Digest Germany Edition May 2015