ZGram - 4/22/2002 - "Jews Perceive Growing Threat in Germany"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

April 22, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

After Jenin, what do they expect?

[START]

Jews Perceive Growing Threat in Germany

By Hans Riebsamen

=46RANKFURT. These days, the nearly 100,000 German Jews are afraid, 
even the courageous ones. Even Slomo Raskin, a proud rabbinical 
student who leads prayers in a Frankfurt home for the elderly, is 
being cautious. He has not shaved his full beard or doffed the black 
hat he always wears. He is still determined to be recognized as a Jew 
at first glance.

But he is more careful in other ways. "I no longer look people in the 
eye on the subway, so that nobody can feel provoked," he says. And he 
has instructed his sons to wear baseball caps instead of their 
yarmulkes on the street. "I have to protect them."

Where is the front line between Israelis and Palestinians? Since the 
attack in Djerba, Tunisia, that killed 16 people, including 11 German 
tourists, on April 11, it clearly no longer runs only through the 
towns and cities of the West Bank.

The first strikes here in Europe have been made: attacks on 
synagogues in France, fires at two Jewish businesses in Brussels, two 
attacks on Jews on the street in Berlin.

Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, 
has no doubt what it means: "The threat is getting closer." That is 
hard to dispute after fundamentalist Islamists in the Palestinian 
territories recently declared every Jew on Earth to be a legitimate 
target.

Imaginary danger? The heavily guarded Jewish schools, community 
offices and synagogues across Germany indicate otherwise. Officials 
have ordered a maximum security alert. Suddenly, Mr. Spiegel and his 
deputy, Michel Friedman, are receiving threats, many more than usual. 
Mr. Spiegel reports that previously, 90 percent of the letters and 
e-mails he received from non-Jews were positive. "Now, it's the other 
way around," he says.

It is not just public figures who are affected. A Jewish woman from 
=46rankfurt reports complete strangers have called her up to deliver 
anti-Semitic diatribes, though she is a completely "normal" person 
with no public function or office. Her bewilderment is written on her 
face as she says, "Synagogues are burning in Europe again, 57 years 
after the war."

On Wednesday, she went to the community center of Frankfurt's Palm 
Garden to join several hundred members of the Jewish community in 
celebrating Yom Ha'atzmaut, the Israeli independence day. But instead 
of the planned solidarity celebration for the 54-year-old Jewish 
state, the event developed into a round of comfort and consolation 
for this nervous community, all of whom share her fears.

Mr. Friedman received a round of thunderous applause for his fervent 
warning against giving up: "We must be an example to our children and 
show that we are not afraid." His listeners had clearly been waiting 
for those fighting words, an open declaration that "Israel is not 
doing anything awful. The terrorists are doing awful things."

It is more than just fear of attacks on synagogues that is upsetting 
German Jews. They are also uneasy about other Germans, their fellow 
German citizens, whether Christians or atheists. And they are angry 
at some politicians, and at the media.

Talk in the Palm Garden community center often revolved around the 
media's one-sided reporting on the Middle East in favor of the 
Palestinians. Cracks are appearing in the idea that it is possible to 
live in a Germany that holds its Jewish citizens in high regard and 
stands by them in times of crisis.

Many wondered why there were no spontaneous protests in Frankfurt or 
elsewhere in Germany after suicide bombings in Tel Aviv and 
Jerusalem. Mr. Spiegel unhappily pointed out that far more non-Jewish 
Germans took part in a Palestinian-organized march in Berlin earlier 
this month, and in pro-Palestinian rallies in Frankfurt and other 
German cities, than attended a demonstration in solidarity with 
Israel in Frankfurt two weeks ago.

Then there are the remarks made by J=FCrgen M=F6llemann, a leading member 
of the Free Democratic Party. He has spoken of Israel's "state 
terrorism" and said about the Palestinian attacks, "I would defend 
myself, too, even with violence."

With his remarks, Mr. M=F6llemann is like a red flag to Mr. Spiegel and 
Mr. Friedman; and not just to them.

Around the tables in the Palm Garden, where largely elderly gentlemen 
enjoyed pound cake and fruit tortes with sugar glaze, but also in the 
gallery, where younger people gathered, talk often turned to Mr. 
M=F6llemann. Mr. Spiegel said that Mr. M=F6llemann and others were using 
purportedly legitimate criticism of Israel to camouflage aggressive 
anti-Semitism. And there in the Palm Garden, he was not alone in that 
opinion.


April 22, 2002
=46rankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung


=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

"Zionists are the world's most successful criminal enterprise."

(Letter to the Zundelsite)