The basic idea and institutional tenets of the German policy of remembering the Holocaust are sound and correct. They are quite literally a model for other societies who are descended from horrible horrible people. Like I wish the US and Canada did a fraction of what German does to acknowledge and honour their own very dark past of colonization and genocide.
It seems however that one particular thing has gone very wrong: they have adopted a bizarre definition of anti-semitism that precludes most opposition to the state of Israel, even when Israel does plainly indefensible things. And because we are talking about Germans, for whom rules really fucking matter, this has lead them to some truly bizarre situations such as persecuting Jews who criticize Israel as antisemitic.
And when Israel does step over the line, and Jewish Israeli Holocaust scholars, like Omer Bartov, are telling you this has started to really stink of genocide, the Germans find themselves in an impossible bind, which they resolve in the shittiest way possible by taking a side and condemning the other side as antisemitic.
They could and should have plainly said: this is a complex matter, but we trust the ICJ, we will wait for their determination, no further comment. That would have been an entirely honourable position for them to take. But no, they forced themselves into a position of having to defend one of the two litigants, like a caricature of an annoying white saviour “ally”, like the worst caricature of the male nice guy “feminist” who mansplains feminism to women.
Germany can very well be an authority when it comes to far right antisemitism. If they say a right wing group is anti-semitic, I am by default inclined to believe them. But when it comes to criticizing Israel, when there are multi-dimensional nuances and complexities, and when Israel itself is under a right wing extremist government, Germany is far from an authority that should have any fucking say about which Jewish public voice, like Masha Gessen, is … being anti-Semitic.
The basic idea and institutional tenets of the German policy of remembering the Holocaust are sound and correct. They are quite literally a model for other societies who are descended from horrible horrible people. Like I wish the US and Canada did a fraction of what German does to acknowledge and honour their own very dark past of colonization and genocide.
It seems however that one particular thing has gone very wrong: they have adopted a bizarre definition of anti-semitism that precludes most opposition to the state of Israel, even when Israel does plainly indefensible things. And because we are talking about Germans, for whom rules really fucking matter, this has lead them to some truly bizarre situations such as persecuting Jews who criticize Israel as antisemitic.
And when Israel does step over the line, and Jewish Israeli Holocaust scholars, like Omer Bartov, are telling you this has started to really stink of genocide, the Germans find themselves in an impossible bind, which they resolve in the shittiest way possible by taking a side and condemning the other side as antisemitic.
They could and should have plainly said: this is a complex matter, but we trust the ICJ, we will wait for their determination, no further comment. That would have been an entirely honourable position for them to take. But no, they forced themselves into a position of having to defend one of the two litigants, like a caricature of an annoying white saviour “ally”, like the worst caricature of the male nice guy “feminist” who mansplains feminism to women.
Germany can very well be an authority when it comes to far right antisemitism. If they say a right wing group is anti-semitic, I am by default inclined to believe them. But when it comes to criticizing Israel, when there are multi-dimensional nuances and complexities, and when Israel itself is under a right wing extremist government, Germany is far from an authority that should have any fucking say about which Jewish public voice, like Masha Gessen, is … being anti-Semitic.