SPME-Germany was actively participating in the Pro-Israel rallies which have taken place in most of the larger German cities. Whereas the pro-Palestinian rallies attracted more participants, and were very offensive and aggressive in tone, including slogans like “Kill all the Jews” and burning of Israeli flags (unhindered by the police), the pro-Israeli demonstrators expressed their support for Israel and their hope for peace in the area in a civilized way. They often stressed that the Palestinians are not the enemy of Israel, only the terrorist Islamist groups, such as Hamas in Gaza and the Hizbollah in Lebanon, and they deplored the innocent victims on both sides.
Disregarding the fact that any other country would never have allowed its cities and citizens being terrorized by rockets from behind the border, the public opinion in case of Israel’s defensive action is in general hostile, biased and one sided. Henryk Broder, the well-known Jewish-German publicist, has once maintained ironically that the Germans will never forgive the Jews Auschwitz, and this lies probably at the core of the German attitude towards Israel in the Middle East conflict. Also the fact that the majority of the German media have only been showing the casualties on the Palestinian side, the public opinion in this country took an easy turn against Israel. In spite of the fact that 250.000 Israelis (embracing 100,000 children) have been traumatized by some 10,000 Kassam rockets fired from Gaza over the last eight years, hardly any German medium has brought this information – Jewish casualties seem to be less interesting.
Every, even minor, attack by a Taliban suicide-murderer against the German forces in Afghanistan, causes an enormous outcry, but when Israel builds a fence in order to prevent such attacks against its citizens by the Hamas or Hizbollah, the media and the politicians refuse to acknowledge the parallels in times when Israel is a target of the same. It is therefore all the more important to watch the media carefully and intervene whenever it is necessary in order to correct the false information and amend the attitude of politicians, journalists and scholars, in times of “truce”, as fragile as it may be, just as at time of an armed conflict. It is our duty as SPME to continue to support the peace loving forces on both sides of the front and it is also up to us to arouse the conscience of the world.
