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 Merkel’s Israel Trip Off to a Rocky StartPosted on Mar 12, 2008German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to speak before the Israeli Knesset to underscore her country’s strong ties with Israel, but at least one aspect of her visit is already causing controversy. Merkel will address the Israeli parliament in German. It won’t be the first time a German official has addressed the Israeli government using what one lawmaker called “the last language my grandmother and grandfather heard before they were murdered.” A spokesman for the speaker of the Knesset downplayed the controversy: “She is a very important European and world leader, and a great friend of Israel, and she asked to speak in German.”
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By John Phillips, March 19, 2008 at 5:51 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Real reconciliation will not happen until people accept that the current generation of Germans had nothing to do with the holocaust or WWII and should have no guilt. I think not having this attitude is why Europe has never ending ethnic hatred. The hatred never seems to die. I know its a fine line, but at some point rememberances of wrong-doing are just keeping the hate alive. I can sort of understand why the Jews can’t forgive the Germans because I’ve heard their religion preaches that sons pay for the sins of the father (not sure this is really true about their religion), plus the crimes against them were especially henious, but europe has no excuse. Christianity clearly preaches each person is responsible for their own behaviour and also preaches forgiveness. If I were a German born after WWII, I would reject all guilt and would be upset with Ms Merkel’s grovelling for an entire nation. Its human nature to want self esteem. A future generation of Germans may rebel against the guilt trip. The world will then say “There those Germans go again”, and once again feel good about how they are morally superior to those Germans.
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, March 14, 2008 at 6:48 am Link to this comment
Oooooohhhhh!!
Report thisBy waxman, March 13, 2008 at 6:48 pm Link to this comment
I MEAN REALLY REALLY STUPID !!!!
Report thisBy waxman, March 13, 2008 at 6:46 pm Link to this comment
Aegrus, to be as concise as I can, you are just plain STUPID !!!!
Report thisBy Paolo, March 13, 2008 at 5:09 pm Link to this comment
I believe you will find Yiddish is one of Israel’s official languages. Yiddish is essentially a dialect of German with a lot of borrowed words from Hebrew and other languages.
You will find many modern Israelis who still use their German-language surnames.
Are we really to believe that using a certain language is offensive?
Oi, veh!
Report thisBy Aegrus, March 13, 2008 at 11:37 am Link to this comment
It is a bunch of nonsense. Perpetuating the idea all Germans are Nazis or somehow ultra racist when the country, and its government, have done so much to mitigate, apologize and reconcile with their past is beyond ignorant and prejudiced. It’s a prejudice and presumption foisted upon the public through relentless Holocaust and World War II cinema, video games and imagery.
Yes, we should not forget the horrors, but we should also be objective because it is the same narrow-mindedness and fear which brought oppressors to Germany and the world. The same entangling alignments we have today. We are living in a post-Nazi fascist petri dish here in America, and I think we should not spend time making Germans or others into monsters of some greater evil. We should humanize them because it is our fellow countrymen and women, the humans we live amongst, who have the same capacity today that existed in Germany during the 1930s.
Beware of ignorance. Beware of propaganda. Question everything.
Report thisBy Aegrus, March 13, 2008 at 11:25 am Link to this comment
Doug, would you please drop the damn Ferraro defense. This is just ridiculous. Even though I agree 100% Angela Merkel should not feel pressure or guilty for wanting to speak in her native language, anything you say is invalid, impotent, racist, sexist, wrong or illogical.
You are a curmudgeon.
Report thisBy logabob, March 13, 2008 at 9:48 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This is ridiculous. Yes, the holocaust was awful, and yes, those who committed it spoke in German, but get over it, this is the 21st century.
Let us not forget that many of the Jews themselves were German, spoke German, lived in Germany, and did various German things.
I really get annoyed with how sensitive people are too this issue. It’s not like Merkel’ will have a swastika branded on her forehead…
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, March 13, 2008 at 7:07 am Link to this comment
Here’s another one making an urgent trip….. and also running away from the truth, uhh….
Principal ‘molested schoolgirls’ - THE principal of a private Jewish girls’ school in Melbourne has fled Australia facing accusations that she sexually molested some of the students.
Outraged parents claim that the Adass Israel Girls’ School in Elsternwick paid for Malka Leifer, a mother of eight, to return to Israel before reporting the complaints to the police.
She left Melbourne on Wednesday last week, 24 hours after being investigated and sacked by the school’s board…... http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/principal-molested-girls/2008/03/13/1205126111228.html
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, March 13, 2008 at 3:59 am Link to this comment
Uhh, if this was Hillary Clinton (or Geraldine Ferraro), you could hear the screaming from the Obama camp within seconds. And too bad about “hurting” Merkel’s feelings, duh…..
Obviously, the Israelis don’t want “cordial relations” with Germany any more than they do with Arab Palestinians. Everything must be ordained exactly and precisely according to them. How utterly precious!
Bu, as her speaking in German, the last language my grandmother and grandfather heard before they were murdered…, I guess we could just go back to the days when people would say “My father/uncle/etc used to kill Germans (or Japanese)....”.
Angela Merckel would be fool to continue with this visit now but, as a politician, she is playing to her own domestic audience. That makes it all the more bizzarre as both parties are playing entirely separate games, too.
The Germans are apparently still obsessed with their guilt trip while the Americans and other so-called Christian countries continue to obsess with the ludicrous fantasy of the Jews as a “holy race” despite their being complicit in the murder of Jesus as the story goes.
Both of those motivations are so much irrelevant garbage in comparison with the real Israeli agenda of Zionist expansion and hegemony in the Middle East. The fact that it has been suggested Sunday that it would be more convenient for Israel to bomb Iran than for the USA shows the real direction and urgency of things…..... http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=46690§ionid=351020104
Report thisBy weather, March 13, 2008 at 2:50 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
the Wall marked damaged goods.
You, Sarkozy, Nestor and Berlusconi are boardpieces in a toxic on-line game called “Bad Karma”.
Report this