Dubow Digest American Edition Sept. 7, 2009

AMERICAN EDITION September 6, 2009 OPENING NOTE: This is the last issue before both the German national elections which come up on Sept. 27th and the Jewish High Holy Days. In fact, Election Day takes place on Erev Yom Kippur with the first results coming in just as Jews in Germany are heading to synagogue. Since we’re 6 hours earlier I could rush you news of the outcome but I think I’ll wait until more information and analyses are available and start writing after the Shofar sounds. So, best wishes to you all for a wonderful New Year – L’shana Tovah! IN THIS ISSUE THE ELECTION(S) be a real race.

The State elections have muddied the national waters. It may yet

CHANCELLOR MERKEL: A TOUGH IRAN POSITION In the words of a famous song “…Who could ask for anything more?” A pal of the first order! NETANYAHU IN BERLIN little.

The P.M. visits the Chancellor. He hears a little and says a

THE AUSCHWITZ PLANS

A surprise Holocaust present for the P.M.

GERMANY AS HONEST BROKER

Who do you turn to when you need a trusted intermediary?

MEIN KAMPF: NOT A BEST SELLER – IN GERMANY – YET! THE UNINTENDED RESULTS OF DEMOCRACY

The democratic process gets a black eye.

********************************************************************************** ********** THE ELECTION(S) Up until about 10 days ago, according to all my sources, there appeared to be little interest by Germans in their own upcoming national election (Sept. 27th). Chancellor Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU) seemed to be on their way to an easy victory while the major opposition Social Democrats (SPD) appeared to be falling apart. The only question seemed to be whether the Free Democrats (FDP), a smaller conservative, business-oriented party, could muster enough strength to join with the CDU to form a coalition government and put an end to the cumbersome “Grand Coalition” that the CDU and the SPD have shared for the last four years. That was a little over a week ago. On August 30th three States, Saarland, Thuringia and Saxony held their own elections and the CDU suffered “heavy losses.” The SPD didn’t come out all that well either. The smaller parties such as the Greens, The Left and the FDP came out the real winners. In Saxony the NPD, the neo-Nazi party, lost much of its support but managed to get enough votes to be reelected to the State Parliament, the first time they’ve been able to do that. (More on that at the end of this issue). If nothing else, these State elections have brought some change into the political situation and more interest on the part of the electorate. There as yet does not

seem to be enough turmoil to push Merkel out of the Chancellor’s job. The CDU, it is expected, will still get more seats in the Bundestag than the SPD. However, if it cannot garner enough seats to join with the FDP to make a coalition (50% plus 1) then a return to the Grand Coalition scenario seems likely. Of course, the SPD hopes that they can build on the CDU’s poor State showing and, perhaps, with some of the small parties make a coalition of their own – minus the CDU. What happened in the State elections is very complicated and it would take pages to try to explain it. The major question is whether what happened in the States really have strong implications for the national election? So, I offer you three analyses which you can delve into to see if you can make more sense out of the situation than either the German voting public or I have been able to do so far. They are: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20090831-21599.html and http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/world/europe/01germany.html?_r=1&hp and http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4612431,00.html CHANCELLOR MERKEL: A TOUGH IRAN POSITION AFP recently reported that, “German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the first time threatened energy sanctions against Iran if it fails to step up cooperation with the international community on its nuclear program. ‘If there is no progress, we would have to react with further sanctions,’ Merkel told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. ‘What is clear is that Tehran, whose president constantly questions Israel's right to exist, must not get the atomic bomb.’ She noted that the six powers attempting to convince Iran to abandon sensitive nuclear work -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -would gather in September to discuss how to ratchet up the pressure. ‘I don't want to pre-empt the talks but economic sanctions dealing with the energy sector are on the table but we must wait to see what comes of the talks. We must also speak about them (possible sanctions) with our partners Russia and China,’ she said. Merkel dismissed the complaints of German business leaders that they are bearing an unfair share of the burden from existing economic sanctions against Iran. ‘We must, as part of the international community, accept our part of the responsibility for the desired success of a diplomatic solution (to the dispute with Iran),’ she said. ‘If Iran got atomic weapons it would a dangerous situation. That is why sanctions would be justified.’” I don’t think that Israel (or any of us) could ask for a better friend or one who is more sympathetic to our issues than is Chancellor Merkel. Standing up to the business leaders takes courage and guts. Hooray for Angie! NETANYAHU IN BERLIN The news coverage of the death of Senator Edward Kennedy relegated the trip of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to Berlin for a meeting with Chancellor Merkel to the back pages of the American press. However, it took place and focused on the settlements and Iran. Haaretz reported, “German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that progress on the freezing of Israeli settlement building was of crucial importance

for the resumption of the Middle East peace process and that time was pressing. ‘We must make progress in the peace process...and a stopping of the settlement (building) is very important,’ Merkel said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Berlin. ‘Time is of the essence,’ she added, emphasizing the point several times during the news conference. Merkel also said that Iran could face new sanctions in the energy and financial sectors if it does not show a willingness to negotiate on its nuclear program. ‘If there is no positive answer by September we will have to consider further measures,’ she said at the news conference. Netanyahu, who has pledged not to build any new settlements but wants to enable what he calls "natural growth" of existing enclaves, reiterated that he was open to talks with the Palestinians. ‘I hope that in a month or two we can relaunch negotiations,’ he said, adding there was no agreement on a temporary stop to construction. ‘These rumours are baseless; there is no decision or agreement. There is an attempt to narrow the differences. But reports of agreement are simply not true,’ he said. The exchange between Netanyahu and Merkel was important especially as it pertained to Iran. Germany, as well as the rest of the EU and the United States, has been on record for a long time as wanting the building of settlements to stop. No change there. However, what is important is the strong stand Merkel has taken on Iran sanctions. That definitely raises the temperature of what the EU’s most important nation has to say on the issue. Pressure on Iran is what is needed presently and the Merkel statement certainly helps. THE AUSCHWITZ PLANS While in Berlin (Haaretz)”… Netanyahu was presented with architectural plans for the Auschwitz death camp that were discovered in Berlin last year and will go on display in Israel. The 29 sketches of the death camp that was built in Nazi-occupied Poland date back as far as 1941, and include detailed blueprints for living barracks, delousing facilities and crematoria, including gas chambers. The sketches are considered important to helping understand the genesis of the Nazi genocide. They are initialed by the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, and Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess. ‘We cannot allow those who wish to perpetrate mass deaths, those who call for the destruction of the Jewish people or the Jewish state to go unchallenged,’ Netanyahu said during a ceremony at the newsroom of German newspaper Bild. Netanyahu didn't explicitly mention Iran, but it was a clear reference to that country's nuclear program which Israel assesses as a grave threat. Netanyahu thanked the paper, published by Axel Springer Verlag, for giving the documents to him to take back to Yad Vashem in Israel.

‘There are those who deny that the Holocaust happened,’ the prime minister said. ‘Let them come to Jerusalem and look at these plans, these plans for the factory of death.’ The Axel Springer Verlag (Press) is one of the world’s largest media corporations and for its many years of existence has been a strong supporter of democracy and the State of Israel. The current CEO, Mathias Doepfner continues that tradition and I am happy to say that a wonderful friend of long-standing, Ernst Cramer, remains as the Chairman of the Axel Springer Foundation. I think we are all indebted to these two wonderful people. GERMANY AS HONEST BROKER In June of 2006 an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was kidnapped by Hamas in Gaza and has been held as a hostage ever since. For three years negotiations have been going on to gain his release. There have been ups and downs with much talk about a prisoner swap. Over the years it has not been unusual for Israel to trade dozens (hundreds?) of arrested terrorists for one or two Israel hostage. It appeared recently that a deal was near and it turns out that (Jerusalem Post) “At the request of the Israeli government, Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, is negotiating with Hamas, Jerusalem and Egypt in order to secure the release…” For a short time now, the BND has conducted talks between the Israeli government and Hamas, with the goal of a new prisoner exchange -- Shalit for a few hundred Palestinian prisoners now sitting in Israeli prisons. As is always the case in the Middle East, the development has far greater significance than the fate of one soldier -- it has to do with the future of the region. An agreement with Hamas would clearly improve the prospects for a reactivation of a peace process that has come to a standstill. The BND's difficult mission has been undertaken at the explicit request of the Israeli government. When it comes to the Middle East, the BND is considered both a qualified and honest mediator between the enemy camps. For more than 15 years, the Germans have had success in this area -- most recently between Hezbollah and Jerusalem. In July 2008, they secured a deal that saw the return of the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. And now German negotiators have been activated again. Since the end of July, a BND agent from Berlin has been shuttling back and forth between Europe and the Middle East -- between Tel Aviv, Cairo, Damascus and Berlin. The only thing that has changed this time are the negotiating partners. The German bureaucrat is now mediating between the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian Hamas. For the German government, the new mandate provides an opportunity to build its political influence in the region and to make itself indispensable as a political negotiating partner, but the mission is still fraught with risks. The BND traditionally has good relations with the Shiite Hezbollah ("God's Party") in Beirut, but it has hardly established any contact with Hamas. Up until now, the BND has not conducted any negotiations with the militant Palestinian group. While a couple of weeks ago a deal seemed imminent, Hamas has now backed off and it is apparent that it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Too bad! However, I think it’s interesting that Netanyahu has placed his faith in the German BND to work on Israel’s behalf. If you’re interested in the BND and what it does, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesnachrichtendienst MEIN KAMPF: NOT A BEST SELLER – IN GERMANY – YET! Mein Kampf is not a best seller in Germany – at least not since 1945. In fact, since then it is illegal to publish it in Germany and it is not for sale in

bookstores. However, recently JTA reported, “The Institute for Contemporary History in Munich applied last week for permission to reprint the work, which institute director Horst Möller once called an "effective piece of drivel." Hitler had left the printing rights to the state of Bavaria, where he wrote "Mein Kampf" while in prison in 1924. Bavaria has banned its publication in Germany and prevented the work elsewhere. The copyright expires in 2015, 70 years after Hitler's death. Bavarian authorities said they would not lift the ban out of concern that rightwingers could legally use the work. Horst Wolf, spokesman for the state's Ministry of Finance, told reporters that the "prohibition is recognized and highly regarded by Jewish groups, and we mean to keep it that way." But Stephan Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told ZDF television on Aug. 5 that it made sense to publish the book, ‘to prevent neo-Nazis from profiting from it’ and to ‘remove many of its false, persistent myths.’ In 2008, Kramer said the Central Council would gladly help prepare an annotated edition, including one for an authorized Internet publication. Unauthorized versions are available now on far-right and Islamic extremist Web sites based outside Germany. Germany bans the public display of Nazi symbols and hate material, including on the Internet. So there we have it. It’s the chief executive of Germany’s central Jewish agency who is saying, “Bring it on!” Of course, he’s right and it is usually better to be pro-active than reactive. I love Stephan (a very good friend). He is never afraid to say what is on his mind. THE UNINTENDED RESULTS OF DEMOCRACY Democracy is a wonderful thing but sometimes it produces unintended and distasteful results. We all know what happened in the last Palestinian elections when Hamas garnered strong backing and led to their takeover in Gaza. What happened in the German State of Saxony is not quite as bad – but it certainly is not very good. The neo-Nazi NPD Party by virtue of having managed to get more than 5% of the vote and being re-elected to the State Parliament is seemingly entitled to a grant of 100,000 euros for its “Education Center for Homeland and National Identity." Spiegel Online reports, “Saxony's party funding rules state that parties are entitled to state money to finance a foundation if they get re-elected into parliament. The NPD has met that condition, vaulting the 5 percent threshold to enter the assembly of the eastern state of Saxony twice in a row. On Sunday, it got 5.6 percent of the vote, down from 9.2 percent at the last election in 2004. The NPD has access to government funding because it is a legitimate political party. The government and parliament tried to take legal action in 2002 to outlaw it because of its xenophobic views and espousal of Nazi ideology, but the attempt failed. I continue to be a staunch democrat (with a small “d”) but I must say my commitment is waning. See you in late September. ********************************************************************************** ********** DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow, who can be contacted at

[email protected] Both the American and Germany editions are also posted on line at http://www.dubowdigest.typepad.com/ as well.