On November 14, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made another argument in defence of Israel.
“Israel is a democracy – this has to be said very clearly,” Scholz said in response to a comment by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said Israel’s legitimacy was “being questioned due to its own fascism”.
“There is no doubt about this,” said the German leader. “And we will emphasise in every conversation and at every opportunity that this is our view.”
At the time of Scholz’s remarks, more than 11,100 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli military, which began its latest campaign in Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7.
About 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken captive in the Hamas attacks.
At the time of writing, the Palestinian death toll in Gaza had surpassed 17,000 people.
Scholz’s comments were no mere political observation.
The modern German republic, which, for generations, has tried to make amends for its Nazi past and its role in the Holocaust during the second world war, has long made Israel’s security its Staatsräson (“reason of state”) – a term first coined in an essay by Germany’s former ambassador to Israel, Rudolf Dreßler, in the early 2000s.
Israel’s war on Gaza, which has been raging for more than 60 days, has only hardened German political support for the Israeli state.
On Tuesday, officials from Saxony-Anhalt announced that applicants seeking naturalisation in the east German state would have to commit to Israel’s “right to exist” in writing, or face being refused German citizenship.
Source : BBC
