Strong pro-Israel consensus among political leaders has led to conflict with Berlin’s diverse cultural sector and a fraught debate over antisemitism

Less than 10 years ago, Germany, and especially Berlin, was held up as a beacon of openness and inclusivity in a western world rocked by Brexit and Donald Trump. Angela Merkel’s decision to take in thousands of refugees displaced by the war in Syria boosted her country’s reputation in progressive circles, with many international artists and academics choosing to make the German capital their new home.

Yet the conflict in the Middle East is showing Germany in a new light, highlighting fissures in society and the arts world that until now had been easier to ignore.

  • nichtsowichtig@feddit.deEnglish
    47·
    9 months ago

    there is not a massive difference. jewish and israeli identity are intertwined. Many jewish people sought refuge in israel because they had nowhere else to go. European jews after WW2 or arab jews in the late 40s/50s who were expelled out of muslim countries, for example. And again, defending israel’s right to exist is not the same as defending the israeli government or the war crimes the idf commits.

    • Landsharkgun@midwest.socialEnglish
      72·
      9 months ago

      Not really. Israel is an ethnostate, they’ve declared it themselves. Genocide and oppression are guaranteed so long as it continues to be one.

    • brainrein@feddit.deEnglish
      32·
      9 months ago

      Jewish and Israeli identity are intertwined

      No, they are not. But that is exactly what Israeli propaganda is trying to make you believe.

      And because German politicians and media are cowards, they simply repeat Israeli propaganda when it comes to issues concerning the Jewish people or Israeli issues.

      For this reason, the following Jews and Jewish organizations have probably never been invited to a German talk show or as experts on Jewish or Israeli issues:

      Gideon Levy, Breaking the Silence, Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappé, Avi Shlaim, Max Blumenthal, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Simone Zimmerman, Jewish Currents, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JJP), IfNotNow, Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Never Again Action, Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)

      Watch them, read them.

      I am convinced that this bias in German media is one of the main reasons for the increasing anti-Semitism in Germany.

      When the only Jews you are shown are ardent supporters of an oppressive apartheid state that commits genocide and/or ethnic cleansing, and when that state presents itself as the core of Jewish identity, it is just too easy to conflate Jewish and Zionist and Israeli identities.

      • nichtsowichtig@feddit.deEnglish
        11·
        9 months ago

        it is funny how you don’t even react to anything I wrote and just say I am wrong and I believe in israeli propaganda.