AMERICAN EDITION

January 5, 2012

Dear Friends:

Welcome to 2012!

I hope you had a restful enjoyable holiday season and that your Hanukkah candles did not burn your house down. I spent part of the time in the Berkshires where they have not had a flake of snow. I did follow the German news but more importantly my beloved Kentucky Wildcats demolished the hated Louisville Cardinals in a hard fought basket ball game and the NY Football Giants made the playoffs. What a great way to start off a New Year.

While our unemployment problems get discussed and re-discussed by our politicians it was recently reported (DW-World) in Germany, “Despite the ongoing euro zone crisis, new figures have led German experts to predict a positive 2012 for the economy. Unemployment may drop further, and consumers are expected to continue their 2011 spending spree.

 Over 41 million people in Germany were employed in 2011 – a record high since the country's unification in 1990, new figures published Monday by the Federal Statistics Office show.

The surprising statistic has inspired economic pundits agree that the employment figure will rise even further in the current year, although another increase of almost half a million as recorded in 2011 seems out of the question.

Not too shabby!

The major question of what Germany will be willing to do to keep the Euro afloat still hangs over the heads of all Europeans (and ours as well). A big Euro summit is planned for January 30th. We’ll have to watch that in order to see what results. In the meantime, in spite of the Christmas/New Year lull quite a few things happened in the Federal Republic so let’s get on with the news…

IN THIS EDITION

THE EU, THE JEWS & GERMANY – Is the EU good for the Jews?

COALITION TROUBLES – Will the Chancellor need a new partner in 2013?

EUROPEAN JEWISH WARS – It’s not enough to have non-Jewish enemies. How about co-religionists?

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A POISONED SOCIETY? – So says a noted academic about Germany.

A BREWING SCANDAL – Germany’s President this time.

BUILDING NEAR JERUSALEM – A question about Germany’s criticism

NEO-NAZIS – Demonstrations and a murder gang.

THE E.U., THE JEWS & GERMANY

With the Brits vetoing the EU fiscal plan to save the Euro the media throughout the world has been full of stories revolving around the economic future of the EU – and, indeed, the rest of the world. I have been wondering whether there were any specific thoughts or opinions regarding the implications for European Jewry.

Lo and behold! I came across an interesting piece in The Jewish Chronicle On-Line, a well known and highly respected British publication which featured a piece by Jonathan Freedland on that very subject entitled, Europe’s Jews Need This Union.

Mr. Freedland, a journalist, writes, “There is hardly any polling of British Jews on any topic, so we are left with the evidence of our own eyes and ears. Here's what my own, unscientific survey has picked up: that this is a subject which, while hardly discussed, touches on sentiments that go very deep, pitting our gut instincts against our heads, our fears against our hopes.

The gut instinct is one we're wary of voicing it lest we sound stuck in the past - fear of Germany. Plenty of Europeans voice similar anxieties. Witness the nervous response when one of Angela Merkel's allies quipped: "Suddenly Europe is speaking German." Or the Greek magazine cover which, protesting at the subordination of Athens to economic decisions taken in Berlin, depicted a swastika on the Acropolis. Or look no further than the British press, which compared Cameron's stance to Britain's lonely defiance in 1940, recalling the famous cartoon of the solitary Tommy declaring: "Very Well, Alone!"

We're not the only ones to worry. And yet these concerns hit a particularly raw nerve for Jews, one that goes deeper than tabloid headlines. I spoke to one especially thoughtful Jewish man of letters who confessed to being spooked by the pictures that came out of the Brussels summit: a German chancellor at the centre, the leaders of Lithuania or Croatia hovering close by, the smaller nations of Europe apparently reduced to mere satellites of mighty Berlin. Maybe that's unfair or a distortion, but that's how he saw it.

Viewed through this lens, Cameron did the right thing. Anything that can stop a fiscal union that would have required the countries of the eurozone to have had their

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budgets approved, their homework marked, in effect, by Germany is to be welcomed. Never mind that none of those arrangements would have applied to Britain, still comfortably (and rightly) out of the eurozone. As far as this elemental Jewish gut instinct is concerned, talk of German domination is scary and we should support any move that stands in its way.

But that is not the only Jewish way to see the European question. Other Jews, no less haunted by the last century, might have the opposite reaction. They might, for a start, be alarmed at the prospect of the eurozone breaking apart in chaotic fashion. Everyone agrees that such a crash would see the economy tanking, not only across Europe, including Britain, but far beyond. You don't have to have a doctorate in modern Jewish history to know that when a depression looms, so does trouble for the Jews. We may not have played the role of scapegoat for a while, but history remembers are past performances and the script is still there, always ready to be revived.

But even if the euro does not break up, Jews still have good reason to want the EU to succeed rather than fail. What motivated the founding fathers of the European project (among whom there was, incidentally, a strong Jewish presence) was a desire, after the horrors of two wars, to ensure the nations of Europe never fought each other again, to make them into trading partners rather than military rivals. It was a noble ideal and one in which Jews have a particularly high stake - for war in Europe has hurt us especially.

Fear of Germany was central to this mission. The aim was to tie down the German Gulliver in bonds of commerce, the Lilliputians of the rest of Europe confining him in the shackles of shared sovereignty. In the post-1945 era Germany submitted willingly to those constraints, seeing the EU as the way it might be protected from its darkest self.

Few British politicians speak this way now; the wartime generation has passed. But Jews have long memories. We should heed them, listening to our heads not our guts - and willing the EU to survive the current storm.

The important point made by Mr. Freedland has almost nothing to do with the decision by the UK to veto the economic plan. Rather, it pertains to the importance of the EU to the Jews. I wonder, however, whether the the economic decision made by Prime Minister Cameron will in the long run have an affect that proves to be negative for Mr. Freedland and the rest of British Jewry. If the UK financial industry becomes isolated and weaker might that have a severe negative impact on the security of the Jews in the UK – and the rest of Europe?

My particular concerns expressed over the last couple of years have more to do with German foreign policy vis a vis Israel and its possible submission into a less positive set of policies resulting from pressure by the other EU countries. However, if Germany has become the 900 pound gorilla in the foreign policy room, perhaps it

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might be able to bring the others around to its way of thinking and that, of course, would be a big plus. Stay tuned!

COALITION TROUBLES

It is hard to imagine that any political body would get a lower percentage of approval than the U.S. Congress which stands at about 9%. However, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in Germany weighs in at 3%. Now, mind you, this is not some splinter party off the end of the political spectrum. It’s the junior partner in the ruling coalition. It’s former head (Westerwelle) is the Foreign Minister and its current head (Rösler) is Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister

Some months ago, with its numbers sinking like a lead balloon they turned to a younger group of leaders – guys mostly in their 30’s – in order to get their act together. The Local.de recently noted, “The FDP, tanking in the opinion polls (Forsa currently has the government’s junior coalition partner at just three percent), has met both internal and external criticism for its youth-first policy in choosing leaders.

According to Mainz-based political analyst Jürgen Falter, the FDP’s desperate situation is the result of a “fatal mix” of the “wrong issues and the wrong personnel.” “The FDP’s problem is that they don’t have the faintest trace of an answer to the financial crisis and the subsequently discredited deregulation of the economy,” Falter told the Saarbrücker Zeitung.

The FDP's so-called "boygroup" – all directly or indirectly promoted by Westerwelle (Ed. Note: Now the Foreign Minister) – has so far failed to catch the sympathy of the German population. Apart from 32-year-old Lindner and 38-year-old Rösler, the baby-faced circle includes 35-year-old Daniel Bahr, German health minister since May.

Some internal critics have been louder than others.

Ulrich Goll, 61 years old and former FDP justice minister in Baden-Württemberg, told the Stuttgarter Zeitung on Wednesday, “At the end of the day, Christian Lindner has given up because he hasn’t achieved his aims. But that doesn’t just go for him. That which we jokingly call the FDP boygroup has so far failed to gain a foothold.”

Asked whether this was Rösler’s last chance, Goll had a monosyllabic answer: “Yes.”

The FDP is not about to go out of business anytime soon. However, they have a very long and steep road back if they are to remain a viable partner for Chancellor Merkel’s CDU in the 2013 national election. So, there problems are the Chancellor’s as well. Aside from trying to fix the world’s economic problems I am sure she is looking down the ‘pike to 2013. If the FDP is not viable for her then she has to think

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about a “Grand Coalition” with the Social Democrats (SPD) if she can out-poll them. However, if the SPD and The Green Party can garner 50% between them, the Chancellor’s position will go to the main person, whoever that will be, in the SPD. Meanwhile, the FDP is on the verge of joining the Whigs and Communists on the lists of parties that used to be.

EUROPEAN JEWISH WARS

It’s not enough that the relatively small Jewish communities in Europe are struggling to survive and to ward off the occasional outbreaks of anti-Semitism, now two wealthy Ukrainian businessmen have started up a new organization to compete with the time honored (but not always effective) European Jewish Congress. They are proposing a European Jewish parliament.

Toby Axelrod writing in Jweekly.com stated, “The proposed parliament, which aims to bring issues of Jewish concern to the European Union — a role other groups already play — is the brainchild of billionaires Igor Kolomoisky and Vadim Rabinovitch.

The two Ukrainian Jewish businessmen and philanthropists have been seeking leadership positions recently in European Jewish life, and in the spring they launched a new organization called the European Jewish Union. Then in September, they established a new pro-Israel channel on YouTube called Jewish News One, or JN1.

According to Tomer Orni, CEO of the European Jewish Union, the Jewish parliament will have offices adjacent to the European Parliament in Brussels and will hold regular assemblies there. The Jewish parliament’s budget will be covered by the European Jewish Union, and the agenda is to be set by elected members.

It’s not clear that Kolomoisky and Rabinovitch’s latest project will bring them any more success than their previous ones. One thing seems clear: The parliamentary election process has sparked annoyance and irritation among European Jewish leaders.

After European Jewish Congress leaders began receiving calls from members confused about how they had landed on the list of candidates, the leaders circulated a memo saying they are “not connected in any way to this initiative and do not support it.”

“Let’s be honest, it does not look serious,” said Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary general of the Brussels-based EJC. “How can you bypass organized European Jewry and through the Internet call for people to elect or appoint whomever they have selected on whatever ground, on what basis. God knows? It will only create tension in a time when it is necessary to be strong and united.”

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The parliament brouhaha comes a year after Kolomoisky tried to become president of the European Council of Jewish Communities — a low-profile organization founded more than 40 years ago to promote Jewish culture, heritage, education and community — by pledging $14 million to the group over five years. Rabinovitch already was an ECJC vice president.

God knows? It will only create tension in a time when it is necessary to be strong and united.”

The parliament brouhaha comes a year after Kolomoisky tried to become president of the European Council of Jewish Communities — a low-profile organization founded more than 40 years ago to promote Jewish culture, heritage, education and community — by pledging $14 million to the group over five years. Rabinovitch already was an ECJC vice president.

But after members of the ECJC resigned in protest, Kolomoisky withdrew his bid, Rabinovitch quit his post, and the two instead decided to create the European Jewish Union.

So, there you have it. If you can’t get elected in one organization, start up one that competes. Frankly, I do not understand why there is such competition for leadership in the European Jewish scene. The communities are spread out all over the continent and are certainly not answerable to a central organization.

Who knows why people do what they do? It just seems to me that more cooperation rather than competition is what European Jews need.

You can read more about this situation by clicking here.http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/12/13/3090703/new-european-jewish-parliament-is-threat-to-jewish-unity-leaders-say

A POISONED SOCIETY?

Is Germany a poisoned society? According to a well known social scientist Professor it is. Wilhelm Heitmeyer, 66, directs the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University. He has authored numerous studies on right-wing extremism, discrimination and social disintegration. His most recent, "Deutsche Zustände: Folge 10" ("German Conditions: 10th Edition"), released on Dec. 12, 2011, was based on research spanning a decade.

Der Spiegel notes “Over the course of 10 years sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer polled German citizens about their views on the weaknesses within their own country, publishing a volume each year. The latest edition, "Deutsche Zustände: Folge 10" ("German Conditions: 10th Edition"), released on Dec. 12, 2011, shows that social peace in the country is endangered after an unsettling decade, he says. While

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homophobia and sexism showed a decline, results found that right-wing populist sentiments were on the rise. In particular, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant statements resonated with respondents. Negative feelings about other disadvantaged groups such as the long-term unemployed and welfare-recipients also appear to show a widening gap between rich and poor in the country, the social scientist reports.”

In a Q & A format Prof. the following exchanges (among others) were noted:

SPIEGEL: Professor Heitmeyer, you have been studying the condition of the Germans for the last 10 years. How are we doing?

Heitmeyer: Not very well. The growing social divide is corroding the sense of community, and society is poisoned. Social disintegration is dangerous, especially for disadvantaged groups. Substantial segments of society believe that they are more valuable than others. Only those who achieve something, who are useful and efficient, count for something.

SPIEGEL: Is this really worse in Germany than elsewhere?

Heitmeyer: Status-based thinking is also widespread in Germany. This sets off a spiral of devaluation, especially in times of crisis. Someone who is afraid of moving down in the world, or is worried about being rendered useless tomorrow, is more likely to denigrate weaker people, to prove to himself that there is still someone below him on the ladder.

SPIEGEL: Who are these people with such hostile attitudes?

Heitmeyer: We tend to focus on young people, some of whom are violent and make the headlines. But it's the older people, those 60 and up, who have particularly hostile attitudes. This has consequences.

SPIEGEL: Are grandma and grandpa teaching their grandchildren to hate foreigners?

Heitmeyer: The attitudes of the older generation are indeed transferred to young people in many cases, because older people have a lot of credibility among young people. This has to be carefully analyzed against the background of an aging society. Youth programs don't do any good, either.

That’s a pretty grim assessment. I’m not enough of a social scientist to even try to take issue with Prof. Heitmeyer. I’m sure he has the facts to back up his findings. However, it does not seem to me that “the sky is falling”. German society has plenty of problems but it has strengths as well. I’m betting on “strengths”.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,803521,00.html

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A BREWING SCANDAL

The CDU Party didn’t need anymore in the way of problems. With their partner party, the FDP, in the doldrums, all of a sudden the President of Germany, Christian Wulff (CDU) is stuck in what looks like a (maybe) major scandal.

According to DW-World, “German President Christian Wulff faced fresh allegations on Tuesday over his former ties with rich businessmen, fuelling questions over his credibility as president.

Adding to a scandal surrounding Wullf's acceptance of a private home loan, Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper has now published claims that the wealthy tycoon Carsten Maschmeyer financed advertising to promote a book written by the president.

Maschmeyer reportedly paid 43,000 euros ($56,000) in 2008 to publicize the book titled "Better Tell the Truth," which played a critical role in Wulff's re-election as premier of the northern German state of Lower Saxony. Maschmeyer claimed, however, the president was not aware of the financial support for the book, which documents his private and political life.

Wulff had already been under intense pressure after he admitted to having failed to disclose a 500,000 euro loan he received from the wife of wealthy German businessman Egon Geerkens in 2008 to help him buy his family home.  Geerkens is an old family friend.

On Sunday the revelations prompted the Free Democratic Party MP Erwin Lotter to call for Wulff to step down. "The immediate resignation is a requirement of integrity and responsibility," Lotter told German news agency dpa.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has, however, reiterated her support for the German president. Wulff still enjoys the "complete confidence" of the chancellor, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Tuesday. The chancellor and Wulff are in "regular and intensive contact, addressing a number of questions," Seibert added.

In an interview with German ARD television on Tuesday, Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger also said she was confident the president would explain the latest allegations. "The president will explain the issues that have to be explained," she said.

Lower Saxony's state parliament convened on Tuesday in a special session of the Council of Elders to examine whether Wulff had violated ministerial laws which prohibit politicians from accepting gifts in relation to their office, although nothing concrete was decided.

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In a statement released on Thursday, Wulff admitted he may have given the "wrong impression" about his financial ties with Egon Geerkens and his wife when he responded to questions from the opposition Green Party in 2010 by denying having any business relationship with Geerkens.

The documents relating to the loan have now been made available to the media at the office of a Berlin lawyer.

The Council of Elders also planned to scrutinize holidays which the president spent at the homes of wealthy businessmen while serving as state premier. According to a list published by the president on Sunday, he spent a total of six holidays with wealthy friends in Spain, Italy, Florida and the German island Norderney between 2003 and 2010.

Despite the accusations facing the German president, a survey conducted by public ARD television on Monday has found that 70 percent of the German public do not believe that Wulff should step down, although only 51 percent regard him as "trustworthy."

Who knows where this thing will end? If it ends where it is now Pres. Wulff will probably be able to ride it out successfully. However, you can never tell about these kinds of matters. One thing frequently leads to another and where it ends is anyone’s guess.

Pres. Wulff was elected in 2010 for a 5 year term. As President he is supposed to be above politics and is expected to be the moral voice of Germany. This sort of thing doesn’t help his standing. However, perhaps he can explain his way out of it and return fully to the role that is expected of him.

BUILDING NEAR JERUSALEM (This item also appears in the Germany Edition)

I’m not too sure what purpose it serves when the spokesman for Chancellor Merkel condemns plans Israel has to build in the Jerusalem area. An article in Haaretz recently reported, “Israel must refrain from constructing new settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a top aide of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday, following Israel's announcement of over 1,000 new housing units beyond the Green Line.

Merkel spokesperson Georg Streiter said that Israel's recent announcement that it would seek contractors to build apartments in both areas conveys "a devastating message with regard to the current efforts to resume peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians."

He said Germany "urgently calls on the Israeli government to refrain from inviting bids for the apartments."

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Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been frozen for three years, in part because of continued Israeli settlement construction in the territories captured by Israel in 1967 and still claimed by the Palestinians.

On Sunday, the Housing Ministry published tenders for 1,028 homes to be built in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, part of a plan to build 6,000 housing units throughout Israel.

According to a statement by the ministry, 500 homes will be built in Har Homa in south Jerusalem, on land occupied during the 1967 Six Day War; 348 in the West Bank settlement of Betar Illit; and 180 in Givat Ze'ev, which lies between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

This apparently marks another step taken by the Israeli government to punish the Palestinians for their successful effort to join UNESCO in October.

The ministry estimates that construction will start at most of the sites within a year.

I don’t want to spend a lot of time disputing or arguing with Streiter. However, the “Green Line” is not a border. It is where the Israelis and the Arab countries that started the 1948 War ended up when a cease fire was agreed upon. The whole area was (and is) disputed territory.

Second, Jerusalem, Israel’s capital would be very vulnerable to any Arab attack without expansion around the city. Look at a map. I think it is only natural for the Israelis to want to surround it more fully with Jewish neighborhoods. I don’t think the term “settlements” fits. In fact, continuing to use that term indicates something temporary. The German government and almost everybody else know that the buildings being built will be permanent. All “peace plans” call for them to be part of Israel. Why continue the fiction?

Third, the statement “This apparently marks another step taken by the Israeli government to punish the Palestinians for their successful effort to join UNESCO in October.” I don’t know where he got that from. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The Israeli building program has been going on for a long time. Whether Mr. Streiter likes it or not the expansion around Jerusalem will continue as a security measure for Jerusalem.

Fourth (and last) I doubt seriously that the announcement of new construction is “devastating” to the efforts to get the peace negotiations going again. I don’t know where Mr. Streiter has been hiding but it is obvious that the Palestinians have given up on real negotiations and are following a new direction, that of getting international recognition while attempting to delegitimate Israel.

It is pretty obvious that the Chancellor’s pronouncement is a pro-forma kind of thing.

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I don’t think anyone takes it seriously. The government can market it to the Arabs as showing that they did something.

Maybe I’m the only one who takes it seriously. I think the German government would be better served by using their diplomatic muscle to convince the Palestinians to face their real possibilities which are zero if they continue to think that all the land, including Israel, can be part of a Greater Palestine. Why not put some heat on them to (as Secy. of Defense Panetta said) “get back to the damn table.”

NEO-NAZIS

The Neo-Nazis don’t give up. In spite of limited numbers of their own and a much greater number of counter demonstrators, they keep having their “marches”. I guess they have some sort of twisted rationale for doing it but they certainly don’t get much sympathy from the general population.

DW-World reported, “Violence broke out in the German city of Bielefeld on Saturday, where a neo-Nazi march was confronted by anti-fascists. Stones were thrown by a left-wing group, while others tried to storm a police cordon.

 Violence flared after a neo-Nazi march was met with counter demonstrations by anti-fascists in the German city of Bielefeld on Christmas Eve.

Some 6,500 people in total protested against the march, many of them outside Bielefeld Youth Center - a rallying point for left-wing activists and a flash-point for decades between left and right. Rallies also took place at the main railway station and along the route of the march.

Police made efforts to separate the two groups, with anti-fascist demonstrators vastly outnumbering the far-right march members, who were fewer than 70 in number.

However, trouble broke out as breakaway group of protesters pelted the neo-Nazi march with stones from a railway bridge that crossed the route. No injuries were reported.

If I had only 70 followers and 6,500 people who hated me came out to a demonstration I think I might try to find a different venue to push my point. Maybe we should be thankful they keep doing what they do. It gives the counter demonstrators something to rile against and keeps the issue of Nazism in the forefront.

On a more serious matter, the one regarding the neo-Nazi group that committed ten murders which I reported on previously, Spiegel On-Line reported, “A secret report on the neo-Nazi terror cell which allegedly killed at least 10 people reveals a series of serious mistakes by Germany's law enforcement agencies. The authorities had

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the group under surveillance and could have stopped the murder spree before it even began, if they had only acted.

You can read the entire story be clicking here. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,806449,00.html

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See you again in a few weeks.

DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted by clicking here

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