1. AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION
NEWSLETTER
dubowdigest@optonline.net
GERMANY EDITION
March 20, 2012
Dear Friends:
As I was finishing up this edition, the horrible news of the murders at the Jewish
school in Toulouse emerged on my computer. It certainly cast a pall over the
expectation I had for the upcoming usually joyous Passover holiday.
It appears that the murderer picked out a Jewish institution for the terrorist killing.
What a tragedy! One can only feel terribly sorry for the remaining members of the
families of those that perished and hope that the terrorist is brought to justice so he
can no longer kill innocent people.
Adding to the dark feeling the Toulouse murders provided me with was the stupid
and unfeeling remarks on the subject made by the EU’s High Representative,
Catherine Ashton. Speaking at a Palestinian refugee’s conference she
reportedly made a connection between the children killed in the rampage with those
killed in the Gaza Strip and Syria. Of course, the killing of children, for that matter the
killing of anyone, is awful. However, to make a political matter out of Toulouse where
the murderer grabbed a child by the hair and then shot her in the head is so
insensitive that Ms. Ashton should be ashamed of herself.
I have more to say about Ms. Ashton below. I wonder how you in the EU countries
feel about her. After all, when she speaks she is speaking for you as well.
Perhaps we’ll all feel better as we get closer to the start of Passover and Easter
which begin on the same weekend. I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
Let’s get on to the news…
IN THIS EDITION
PASSOVER – The great family holiday on the Jewish calendar
A NEW GERMAN PRESIDENT – Hopefully an important moral voice.
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2. EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY: A GENUINE NON-STARTER – Is there
such a thing as EU foreign policy. Does the foreign policy chief have more than one
tune?
ROCKETS RED GLARE – Who’s running the Gaza show these days?
OBAMA & NETANYAHU & IRAN - An analysis of the meeting.
JEWS & JEWS – Why the discord?
HATE GROUPS: USA STYLE – Extremists? We’ve got plenty of them.
PASSOVER
In a little more than two weeks the Jewish holiday of Passover will begin. Jews seem
to have a lot of holidays but, to me, Passover is the most important. Why? Because
it is the time of the year when families come together for the Passover meal (Seder).
It is the great family get-together holiday. Incidentally, if family is not available it is
frequently friends or even strangers who will invite you in to participate in the Seder
meal – and you don’t even have to be Jewish.
If you are not 100% up on what it is all about, let me fill you in a bit from Wikipedia.
Passover (Pesach), is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of
the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.
Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar,
which is in spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and is celebrated for seven or eight
days. It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.
In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God helped the Children of Israel
escape slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh
would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the
slaughter of the first-born. The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of
their homes with the blood of a spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the
Lord passed over these homes, an easy way to remember the holiday.
It is traditional for Jewish families to gather on the first night of Passover (first two
nights in communities outside the land of Israel) for a special dinner called a Seder (
—סדרderived from the Hebrew word for "order", referring to the very specific order of
the ritual). The table is set with the finest china and silverware to reflect the
importance of the meal. During this meal, the story of the Exodus from Egypt is
retold using a special text called the Haggadah.
Children have a very important role in the Passover Seder. Traditionally the
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3. youngest child is prompted to ask questions about the Passover Seder, beginning
with the words, Mah Nishtana HaLeila HaZeh (Why is this night different from all
other nights?). The questions encourage the gathering to discuss the significance of
the symbols in the meal.
There is a lot more to both the ceremony and the meaning. Click here to read the
Wikipedia article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover . Most important! If you attend a
Seder, enjoy it!
A NEW GERMAN PRESIDENT
The formal installation of Joachim Gauck as the new German president went
practically unnoticed here in the United States. As I have pointed out before,
Americans do not understand parliamentary governments very well. After Gauck
was appointed there were a few articles which referred to him as playing “a largely
ceremonial role”. My 2 ½ years living in Berlin tells me that that will not be the case.
To me the German President should be the “moral voice” guiding the country. He
should be something like a Chief Rabbi or the Pope giving guidance rather than
being a politician. I felt that both Presidents Herzog and Rau played that role
exceedingly well during my Berlin years. Both understood fully the difficulties of the
relationship between Jewry and Germany. Both were exceedingly sensitive to the
connection with Israel and with the Jewish community of the United States.
Over the years I met Gauck a few times. A memorable (to me) meeting took place
when I was shepparding an AJC group. During the conversation I mentioned the fact
that I had established a relationship for AJC with the Jewish Community in East
Berlin in the 1980’s. He thanked me for doing that and made me feel as if I had done
something important. I was tremendously flattered.
As far as I can tell, Gauck has not spoken out about Israel’s situation previously. It is
something many of us will wait expectantly to hear in the near future.
An old friend of mine and former Bundestag member, Gert Weisskirchen, wrote to
me about Gauck saying, “Liberty has been his deep personal passion. He has to
work out an understanding of justice, which may build a bridge between liberty and
solidarity. These three values are the very strongholds of European modern
societies, binding citizens all over the European Union together. I know Joachim
personally from revolutionary times. One can trust him unconditionally. He is ready
to learn open minded. Now he will show his ability to represent the new Germany –
embedded into the frame of enduring friendship with Northamerica, crossing
Borders, being national or cultural.”
We can only hope and pray he succeeds.
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4. EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY: A GENUINE NON-STARTER
In writing two different newsletters as I do, one basically for folks in Germany about
American Jewry and the second for American Jews about Germany, I am very
sensitive about being consistent. When there is an issue that might be of interest to
both the easiest thing to do is to print what I have to say in both editions. What
follows below is an article I originally wrote for my American Edition. I would be very
appreciative if you would drop me an e-mail after reading it to let me know whether
you agree with me and Tom Wilson (see last paragraph) or not. If not, why not. You
can click here for an e-mail form dubowdigest@optonline.net
Two years ago the EU decided that it should have a unified foreign policy. Before
ironing out all the problems that trying to get 27 independent nations to agree on
anything might bring about, the EU set up a foreign service called the External
Action Service (EAD) and appointed a “foreign minister”, Lady Catherine Ashton of
Great Britain to the post with the title of “High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy”. Lady Ashton’s greatest problem is (and was) the fact that most
(all?) of the countries were not willing to give up their independent views on most
important matters. As far as I could tell (and I tried to follow her career as best I
could) about 90% of what she had to say was criticism of Israel and the way it was
handling the Palestinian problem.
DW recently reported, “EU foreign ministers are concerned about the bloc's role on
the global stage. During a meeting in Copenhagen, the debate focused on the EU's
waning influence and its foreign policy towards Syria and Iran.
A closer look at the bloc's diplomatic services was to be on the agenda when EU
foreign ministers met for two days of informal talks in Copenhagen: establishing joint
embassies abroad as well as making better use of the fledgling External Action
Service (EAD) - at least according to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
When asked by reporters at the outset of the gathering about her choice of topics in
the face of mounting violence in Syria, Ashton - who has been in charge of the EU's
new external action service since its inception two years ago - was unperturbed. The
EU, she said, has expressed a joint point of view on Syria and was trying to push
diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis.
Ashton faces quite some criticism of what is perceived as her lack of initiative.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe criticized her diplomatic efforts, calling for
better policy coordination. "We must improve the workings of the European external
action service and the way they mix with diplomatic efforts of union members," he
said
Poland's Minister for Europe, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz on the other hand, urged more
patience. "Don't forget, the EAD is still a tiny baby, it has to grow and become more
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5. visible and stronger." Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja declared it is not
Ashton's fault, nor is the EAD to blame - it's the member states, whose willingness to
cooperate is waning.
"What we are actually losing is relevance. Who listens to the EU?" Tuomioja said.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was content with Ashton's
work, but concerned about European policies becoming more national. He warned
that Europe could only assert itself worldwide if it continues to develop further. In
order to strengthen common ground, Westerwelle called for a European president,
elected by the people, and a European constitution. He brushed aside objections
that such projects were far in the future. "We should start this discussion now - if 500
million people are involved, it'll take a few years."
In my opinion the possibility of a European President is just not in the cards. Even if
such an office was established, the holder would as powerless as is Lady Ashton. I
think Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja has it right, “Who listens to the EU?”
As long as the strong countries such as France, Germany and the UK are not willing
to give up their foreign policy independence having a high Representative and an
External Action Service is useless. They might be able to deal with a few non-
controversial problems but the big stuff is going to handled in Paris, Berlin & London.
If anyone “listens to the EU” it’s only because there is agreement in those three
places.
Of course, Lady Ashton can continue to be critical of Israel to get a few headlines.
Frankly, when she started out I was concerned about her troublesome role. I’m not
anymore. I treat her pronouncements as static – nothing more!
P.S. If you think I am critical of Lady Ashton you should read Tom Wilson, Research
Director at the Institute for Middle Eastern Democracy, where he also heads the
Transatlantic Affairs Project. Writing in The Times of Israel he is stronger in his
distaste for the Lady than I am and he feels that EU foreign policy generally is
bankrupt when it comes to Israel. Click here to read his thoughts.
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-moral-bankruptcy-of-european-foreign-policy.
ROCKETS RED GLARE
When Francis Scott Key wrote the words to America’s national anthem, The Star
Spangled Banner, during the War of 1812, he included the words, “And the rocket's
red glare, the bombs bursting in air, he might have been talking about southern
Israel in March of 2012 when the citizens of the cities and towns in that part of the
country were subjected to a raft of terrorist rocketing coming from Gaza.
While it is true that the mass rocket attack grew out of Israel assassinating Zuhair al-
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6. Qaissi, leader of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza, the Israeli military felt
it necessary to take this action. To see the rationale click here.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/why-the-idf-felt-it-had-to-strike-at-zuhair-al-qaissi/
The pinpoint strike which did not kill any civilians kicked off the worst Gaza based
attacks in months. Israel has had its problems over the years with Hamas which has
ruled Gaza since they engineered a coup which deposed the more moderate Fatah.
It now looks as if Hamas has lost its total control as the rocketing came from smaller
groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees.
After a truce was brought about by Egypt, The Jerusalem Post reported, “Hamas will
have to live with the fact that PRC, Islamic Jihad pose a challenge to its control over
Gaza. Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, the two groups who
were behind the rocket and mortar attacks on Israel, have proven that Hamas is no
longer the major player in the Gaza Strip.
As of this week, Hamas will have to live with the fact that these two groups pose a
challenge to the Islamist movement’s control over the Gaza Strip. Until recently,
Hamas had shown zero tolerance toward armed groups that defied its policies and
rule. On a number of occasions, Hamas security forces did not hesitate to detain
members of Islamic Jihad and the PRC who violated previous truces with Israel.
But now the rules of the game in the Gaza Strip appear to have changed. For the
first time, Hamas refrained from taking action against the armed groups, instead
seeking the help of the Egyptians in persuading Islamic Jihad and PRC to agree to
halt their attacks.
By turning to the Egyptians, Hamas is in fact admitting that it no longer has influence
over small armed groups operating in the Gaza Strip.
The latest round of violence has put Hamas in the same position that the Palestinian
Authority found itself in when it controlled the Gaza Strip before 2007.
Today, Hamas is facing the same kind of criticism that was directed back then at the
PA: That it is sitting on the fence while Israel is launching military strikes against the
Gaza Strip.
…what is clear today is that Islamic Jihad and PRC, whose members fired dozens of
rockets and mortars at Israel over four days, are posing a serious challenge to
Hamas’s rule in the Gaza Strip.
There are, of course, greater implications of this sort of radicalization of the Gaza
Strip over and above the immediate rocketing problem which, by the way, has lasted
beyond the date and time of the cease fire. If this random terrorism continues
outside the control of Hamas, there is little doubt that Israel will find it necessary to
take stronger action including possibly another military invasion. No one wants that
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7. including Hamas but the Israeli government will increasingly be under political
pressure to act.
The decentralization of authority in Gaza can only further put off any possibility of a
resumption of a peace process. The amalgamation of Fatah & Hamas into a new
government that was agreed to has never come to pass and the Palestinian
elections that were planned for this year seem as far off as ever. Read
http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-reconciliation-not-likely-this-year/
It is clear that Palestinian fragmentation once again rules the day. Just more of the
same as usual, I guess but more dangerous without a central governing force.
OBAMA & NETANYAHU & IRAN
In early March Israeli Prime Minister Bibi (Everyone calls him that) Netanyahu came
to Washington for a meeting with President Barack (People rarely call him that)
Obama mostly to discuss what they individually or collectively can do to keep Iran
from developing a nuclear bomb. They huddled together and both spoke at the
AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) Annual Meeting, the largest get-
together of pro-Israel supporters (14,000 this year) held during the year.
Both leaders made statements after their meeting and both spoke at the AIPAC
meeting yet no one knows exactly what was said or what was agreed on. Ron
Kampeas writing in JTA noted, “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is
waiting and watching when it comes to Iran -- although for how long, no one knows.
Analysts and Jewish organizational officials who speak with Israeli and U.S.
government say Netanyahu came away from his meeting last week with President
Obama feeling that he has a strategic partner in seeking to keep Iran from obtaining
a nuclear weapon. But, they say, he has yet to decide whether Obama’s tactics will
do the job or if Israel must strike.
Critical Israeli conclusions from Netanyahu's meeting with Obama have yet to be
revealed in part because Israeli officials may still be considering their course of
action, suggested Jason Isaacson, international relations director for the American
Jewish Committee.
"We don’t yet know the crucial decisions," or if there are any, he said.
“It was a worthwhile visit,” Isaacson said. “There is greater understanding than
existed before, and there had been pretty considerable understanding before.”
David Makovsky, a senior analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
outlined a number of theories that have cropped up in the wake of the meeting: That
Netanyahu will wait until after European oil sanctions kick in this summer to decide
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8. on a course of action, or that he would launch a strike before the American elections
in order not to be locked in by the powers of a newly elected president to set an
international agenda. Or that he would not act at all.
“There were a lot of convergences between the president and the prime minister,
but timing wasn’t one of them,” Makovsky said. “Obama said we have plenty of time
in his speech” to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, “and that is not the
Israeli perception.”
It was hard to pin down how much time Israel believes it has, in part because its
calculations are based on Western intelligence, which may not be entirely reliable. A
key factor, Makovsky said, was when and whether Iran developed the capability to
enrich uranium to weapons grade levels, 93 percent.
“Israel has two questions: Will conversion to highly enriched uranium be detected in
real time, and will the United States be able to act in real time,” he said.
A consensus is that the main takeaway of the meeting last week between the two
leaders is that they had moved toward one another: Obama in making explicit the
possibility of a U.S. military strike on Iran, in underscoring Israel’s sovereign right to
defend itself, and in rejecting a strategy of containing Iran; and Netanyahu in
ratcheting down threats of military action.
“For now the chances of an Israeli attack against Iran have receded,” said Alireza
Nader, an expert on Iran-Israel relations at the Rand Corp., an independent think
tank that often consults with the U.S. government. “I wouldn’t say the military option
is off the table. We’ll have to see what Netanyahu says in the next few days or
weeks.”
What precisely is the time frame for a make-or-break decision by Netanyahu on
whether to strike is a matter of conjecture?
Some suggest that Netanyahu cannot act before the consequences are clear of
tough oil sanctions that the European Union is set to impose on Iran, if only because
Netanyahu has pressed so hard for the sanctions. The sanctions are set to kick in
on June 1, and it will take weeks to see if they have had an effect on Iran’s
considerations of whether to advance its suspected nuclear program.
“More than ever the idea that the sanctions could lead to a change in behavior of the
Iranians is guiding us,” a senior European diplomat said, speaking of the mood on
the continent.
Aaron David Miller, a former top Middle East negotiator under a number of
presidents, wrote that despite the differences, the Iranians would understand after
the meeting that Obama and Netanyahu were united in a determination to prevent
the Islamic Republic from going nuclear.
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9. “Perhaps the most important development to emerge from the meeting last week
was Obama's clear reset of the frame of reference within which American policy
toward Iran will now play out,” he wrote on CNN’s website. “He gave very little away
to the prime minister in terms of assurances, let alone guarantees, of American
military action against Iran. But he did highlight the new vocabulary: Containment of
Iran and its nuclear program won't do anymore. Prevention of an Iranian nuclear
weapon is now the strategic objective.”
Considering that no one really knows what actually took place between the two
national leaders, the thoughts of those quoted above probably pretty well assesses
the positions and agreements (and non-agreements) that were staked out. It looks
as if an attack on Iran is not in the cards anytime soon.
The economic noose around Iran’s neck is tightening. AP reported, “Iran was largely
cut off from global commerce on Thursday (March 15), when the company that
handles financial transactions said it was severing ties with many Iranian banks -
part of an international effort to discourage Tehran from developing nuclear
weapons.
The action is meant to enforce European Union sanctions, as global financial
transactions are impossible without using SWIFT, and will go a long way toward
isolating Iran financially.
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, is a
banking hub crucial to oil, financial transactions and other trades.
Because of its reach, SWIFT's decision to cut off about 30 Iranian banks and
subsidiaries could hinder not only banking but also the country's lucrative crude oil
industry and possibly hurt Iranian households that depend on remittances from
relatives living abroad.
"Disconnecting banks is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for SWIFT," said
Lazaro Campos, chief executive of the company. "It is a direct result of international
and multilateral action to intensify financial sanctions against Iran."
The ball is more and more being placed in Iran’s court. Now it’s the curbing of
financial transactions and this summer it will be the EU’s oil boycott. The Iranian
government seems to have its own inside problems with President Ahmadinejad
losing power to Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and maybe being pushed
out of office.
So, that’s the situation. Much depends how it all works out and that, of course, only
time will tell. Stay tuned!
JEWS & JEWS
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10. I have made the case before that a great problem in the Jewish world is the
sometime difficult relationship between American & Israeli Jews. I have underlined
the point that we are a small people, with a history of being physically attacked and
almost destroyed. We have to live frequently surrounded by those infected with the
virus of anti-Semitism. It would be suicidal if we let our different orientations and
backgrounds tear us apart.
It is frustrating and difficult to understand why these two groups of Jews cannot be
closer. An article in he The Times of Israel quoting my AJC colleague, Rabbi Ed
Rettig gives us an interesting view. Ed is American born who made “aliyah” to Israel
when he was 18 and so finds himself on both sides of the equation.
According to Rettig, the discord was exacerbated by the Holocaust but is rooted in
the foundations of the United States and its basis in Protestant Reformation culture.
“America is the only country in the world whose founders are dissenting
Protestants,” he says. This is significant because these very religious thinkers were
deeply involved with personal processes: “The individual is the legitimator of
religious practice” in the US. He chooses to be “saved”; he chooses when and how
to pray.
Conversely, the foundations of Israel are about the collective, the Jewish People,
versus the individual. There is a state religion, not a separation of church and state.
In Israel there is “an identity by fate. Much like a relationship with a parent. ‘I am the
child of my parents. I would die for my parents, go to war, etc.’ The relationship is
lifelong. With American Jewry, it is more like a relationship with a spouse: a choice,
like marriage.
“The assumptions of Jewish identity are so different.”
I think Ed’s supposition is very helpful – individual vs. collective. Perhaps he’s right.
I’m going to think more about that.
The rest of the article deals with programs and views of three “thinkers” on the
subject. Read it and you will better understand what sorts of efforts are being made
to bridge this very troublesome gap. Click here to access it.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/bridging-the-israel-diaspora-divide/
HATE GROUPS: USA STYLE
I wouldn’t want you to think that Germany with its NPD is the only country that
harbors hate groups. Not only does the good old USA have its share but, according
to the New York Times, the number of such groups is rising.
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11. According to Kim Stevenson, “Fed by antagonism toward President Obama,
resentment toward changing racial demographics and the economic rift between rich
and poor, the number of so-called hate groups and antigovernment organizations in
the nation has continued to grow, according to a report released Wednesday by the
Southern Poverty Law Center.
The center, which has kept track of such groups for 30 years, recorded 1,018 hate
groups operating last year.
The number of groups whose ideology is organized against specific racial, religious,
sexual or other characteristics has risen steadily since 2000, when 602 were
identified, the center said. Antigay groups, for example, have risen to 27 from 17 in
2010.
The report also described a “stunning” rise in the number of groups it identifies as
part of the so-called patriot and militia movements, whose ideologies include deep
distrust of the federal government.
In 2011, the center tracked 1,274 of those groups, up from 824 the year before.
“They represent both a kind of right-wing populist rage and a left-wing populist rage
that has gotten all mixed up in anger toward the government,” said Mark Potok of
the Southern Poverty Law Center and the author of the report.
One of the groups that was moved from the “patriot” list to the hate group list this
year is the Georgia Militia, some of whose members were indicted last year in a
failed plot to blow up government buildings and spread poison along Atlanta
freeways. They were reclassified because their speech includes anti-Semitism.
The far-right patriot movement gained steam in 1994 after the government used
violence to shut down groups at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Tex. It peaked after
the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and began to fade. Its rise began anew in 2008,
after the election of Mr. Obama and the beginning of the recession.
There have been declines in some hate groups, including native extremist groups
like the Militiamen, which focused on illegal immigration. Chapters of the Ku Klux
Klan fell to 152, from 221.
Luckily, none of these groups have been able to organize politically and none are
officially represented in a state or the national legislature. However, they provide an
ever present danger. While their major focus is on issues such as immigration and
integration, anti-Semitism is never far from their beliefs and programs. Should the
U.S. enter into some sort of military action against Iran, no doubt that part of their
political propaganda will be aimed at “the Jews” for dragging the country into war.
Unhappily that might “sell” in less extreme parts of the American population.
Generally speaking, Jews understand that when hate emerges against any group or
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12. for any purpose – we are the target or the next in line as a hate subject.
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See you again in April.
DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted by
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