Germany has yet to settle on a coalition, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party has already made sure that in its first week of plenary sessions in 2018, the Bundestag will address an issue that has cast a dark shadow over the country – anti-Semitism.
Forty-five minutes have been set aside for speeches on a new bill, proposed by the conservative CDU party, that would strengthen the fight against anti-Semitism. The Social Democrats – a party that is currently focused mainly on infighting over re-entry into another coalition headed by Merkel – quickly announced their support for this initiative.
However, a detailed document billed as the blueprint for coalition negotiations between Germany's two largest parties as a foundation for a so-called "grand coalition," makes no mention of the anti-Semitism problem. It's like official Germany forgot that only recently, it was shocked and appalled at the burning of Israeli flags at pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Berlin and in other locations across the country.
An advance copy of the draft bill, leaked by CDU members, reveals that the legislation focuses mostly on stepping up punitive measures against migrants and refugees involved in anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activity. According to the bill's authors, those who do not accept Jewish life in Germany or the right of Israel to exist have no place in Germany.
Under the bill, which represents a significant shift in Germany's attitude toward the anti-Semitism that runs rampant among Arab and Muslim immigrants, migrants and refugees involved in anti-Semitic incitement or activity will be stripped of their residency rights. However, violators will not be immediately deported, in fact, deportation would not be guaranteed. In addition, the revocation of residency rights would also be subject to legal conwwww.
The German legal establishment's problematic approach toward the issue of anti-Semitism was demonstrated this week in the city of Wuppertal, when the high court upheld a lower court's ruling defining the firebombing of a synagogue as a criminal, rather than an anti-Semitic act.
The firebombing in question was perpetrated by a group of three young Palestinians living in Germany in the summer of 2014, as Operation Protective Edge was raging in Gaza. Anti-Semitic riots were raging across Germany, drawing mainly Arab and Muslim crowds. The law enforcement authorities failed to respond in any way.
When the perpetrators who hurled Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in Wuppertal were apprehended, they claimed it was an act of "protest against Israeli policy" and not, heaven forbid, and act of anti-Semitism, which would result in harsher punishment.
The German judges sided with the perpetrators' arguments time and time again, despite vocal protests from the German Jewish community.
Mere days before the most recent elections, the outgoing German coalition, in which conservatives served alongside social democrats, ratified a 13-year-old definition of anti-Semitism. The definition was originally formulated by experts to clarify specifically when anti-Israel activity is to be considered anti-Semitic. According to this definition, an attack on Jews because of Israel's actions – or as the definition says, "placing collective responsibility on the Jewish people for Israel's actions," is defined as anti-Semitic.
Upholding this definition was meant to provide a consistent, unified interpretation of anti-Semitism for all the different state authorities and facilitate the efforts to effectively combat this ailment. It is hard to believe that just over 70 years after the Germans and their allies stopped systematically exterminating Jews, Germany needs experts to understand what anti-Semitism means. And still: Even after this definition was ratified, much too late, the legal system continues to issue rulings that run contrary to government policy and to common sense.
There is no doubt that Germany has become more cognizant in recent years, albeit in a limited fashion, to the fact that anti-Semitism is still alive and well in the country. Similarly, there is more acceptance of the fact that hatred toward Israel is tantamount to hatred toward Jews. A decade ago, it was common to assert that anti-Semitism had been eradicated in Germany, and that only "legitimate criticism of Israel" still lingered. It is important and right to confront the anti-Semitism that exists in the Muslim Arab immigrant community, but it is a mistake to ignore the fact that anti-Semitism is still quite prevalent among large portions of mainstream German society – portions whose residency cannot be revoked.
