The important decision taken by the German parliament a few weeks ago to designate the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement as anti-Semitic has paradoxically revealed the hypocritical approach taken by quite a few German entities with respect to Israel and Jews.
True, the Bundestag's decision seemingly indicates the opposite, as it set a historic precedent by identifying BDS as anti-Semitic and calling on public bodies to refrain from funding or cooperating with it.
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This may seem like a deep commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism, but what happened in the immediate aftermath of the resolution reveals a troubling reality: a well-organized public, political, and media pressure campaign aimed at portraying the Bundestag's decision as a violation of freedom of expression and urging MPs to overturn in or, at the very least, turn a blind eye when it is not upheld.
Many in the German elite – in academia and culture – have come together to fight the decision, but the most prominent voices here are those of Jews and Israelis: academics, artists and even former diplomats.
The damage this inflicts in clear. After all, if Israelis and Jews themselves claim that the BDS movement is mere "legitimate form of criticism against Israeli occupation policy," why should the Germans, of all nations, denounce the BDS movement as anti-Semitic?
This, of course, leads to something of an anti-Semitic depiction of Jews who support Israel, as they are portrayed by some in the German media as shady characters who use dubious methods to dictate pro-Israeli policies to elected German officials. Even worse: they compelled these elected officials to unnecessarily appoint a special commissioner to fight anti-Semitism. Why unnecessarily? Because clearly, Germany is free of any anti-Semitism.
This is how various German officials have no qualms about "liking" anti-Israel posts on social media, or about comparing Jesus to Palestinian refugees, and why German ambassadors see no problem in siding with organizations that don't recognize Israel or with comparing the Jewish state to North Korea.
And why shouldn't they? This is not anti-Semitism – it's simply "criticism of the Israeli government policies."
Last week, German Bishop Hans-Jürgen Abromeit stated that Germany suffers from "overidentification" with Israel over the Holocaust.
The bishop echoes an entrenched concept by which Israel and Jews are a burden which Germany simply cannot break free from; a permanent reminder of past crimes that do not allow Germans to put the more "problematic" episodes in their history behind them.
Abromeit believes that blending guilt, religious sentiments, and political positions come at the expense of the Palestinians, and therefore Germany must stop supporting Israel so absolutely.
But Germany does not support Israel absolutely. On the contrary, it is a hotbed of anti-Israeli activity.
Israel remained silent for too long on the issue, but the outgoing government confronted Berlin. In Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's October meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Jerusalem, he presented her with a detailed list of German aid to anti-Israeli organizations and activities.
This does not mean that Israel should relinquish its solid relations with Germany, but these relations must be free of ambivalence.
