Quoting Iris Hefetz:
As part of the ânew chapterâ in its history, #Germany has become a kind of #Jewish shtetl. Descendants of #Nazis adopt Jewish symbols, worship #Zionism and persecute Jews who criticize Israel â in the name of fighting #antisemitism, of course.ââââââââââââââââ
Hefetz describes how Germany has undergone what she calls âconvertion to Zionism,â that is the transformion of descendants of Nazis into âthe new Jews.â But she starts with a joke she heard from a Jewish child in #Berlin:
âWhatâs the difference between Jews and Muslims? The Jews are already past that.â
Muslims have become the new target for traditional German racism and intolerance. She contrasts todayâs Germany with the country she found 23 years ago:
âGermany 23 years ago was truly a different Germany. It was still an anti-militaristic and anti-nationalist society and state, which respected its constitution and international law to some extent, where a million people marched against the horrific and internationally illegal war by the US in Iraq, which Germany refused to participate in.â
She traces this transformation back to Germanyâs first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, who stated: âWe caused the Jews such great injustice, we committed such terrible crimes against them, that there was a need to atone for them or repair them to some extent, if we wanted to regain honor among the nations of the world.â However, Adenauerâs antisemitic reasoning was revealed when he added: âThe power of the Jews â even today, especially in America â should not be underestimated. Therefore, I consciously and carefully invested my entire being, to the best of my ability, to bring about reconciliation between the German people and the Jewish people.â
Hefetz says that Germans have now collectively âconverted to Zionismâ without the need for actual conversion:
âAn entire wing of the German âleftâ consists of men who âengaged in identity searchingâ and found it in the form of Israel. They sound as if Noa Tishby is speaking from their throats, wrapping themselves in Israeli flags and IDF flags, going to see folk dance performances celebrating diplomatic relations between the states, and saving Jews from âantisemitism.ââ
She explains that âaccording to data published in the Israeli magazine in Berlin, âSpitz,â in an article later removed, more than half of the complaints about antisemitic incidents in Germany are by German Christians with Nazi grandparents, who are attacked by Jews demonstrating against Israel, for example.â The irony, she notes, is that âdescendants and great-grandchildren of Nazis are very sensitive to âantisemitic attacks against them,â especially if they come from Jews and Israelis.â
Hefetz describes Germanyâs creation of an artificial Jewish identity: âGermany has become a kind of Jewish shtetl. There is no place in the world where you can hear more #klezmer music (traditional Eastern European Jewish music) , adapted to the German ear. The popular names in recent decades in Germany are Hebrew Jewish names.â She explains how âthe German state began funding Reform conversion of Christians to Judaism, and recreated the destroyed German liberal Judaism, a ânew Judaismâ that is of course more desirable than the ultra-Orthodox, who are âOstjuden.ââ
Note: The original derogatory term #Mizrahim as used by Ashkenazi Jews, referred to Jews of Eastern European heritage. In #Israel this term was then repurposed to describe Arab Jews, mostly, as part of what Aziza Khazzoom described as de-orinetalization of the largest Jewish diaspora, see âHow the Polish Peddler Became a German Intellectualâ https://www.sup.org/books/sociology/shifting-ethnic-boundaries-and-inequality-israel
Hefetz details how this âIsraelizationâ serves #Germanyâs return to #militarism:
âIdentification with Israel helps Germany return to being a militaristic state: it helps break the taboo of nationalism; it helps rehabilitate the image of the German man, who in the years after the war tried to be ânon-Germanâ by emphasizing soft qualities, non-authoritarian education for children.â
She quotes recent statements by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said Israel âdoes the dirty work for usâ regarding attacks on Iran, while a security expert from his party stated âwe are also ready to die for Israel.â She notes the antisemitic nature of these statements:
âThese antisemitic statements about Jews doing Germanyâs âdirty workâ are not new, and the reference to killing civilians as âdirty workâ recalls Himmlerâs Poznan speech, or what Rudolf Hess said at the Nuremberg trials.â
She concludes that âGermany is making a comebackâ through authoritarian measures disguised as fighting antisemitism, while âGermany supplies Israel with at least a third of the weapons for the genocide in Gaza.â Despite this official support, Hefetz notes that âthere is an absolute majority in the German public that consistently opposes supplying weapons to Israel; and with all the pro-Israeli propaganda and Israeli flags flying over every government office in Germany, 73% think what Israel is doing in Gaza is genocide.âââââââââââââââââ
Hebrew https://www.mekomit.co.il/%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%92%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%9B%D7%9A-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%9B%D7%95-%D7%A6%D7%90%D7%A6%D7%90%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%90%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%9D/
Photo: Iris Hefetz arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest (screenshot)
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