Hot Potato Politics

Criticism of Israel leads to charges of anti-Semitism and electoral politics are only fanning the flames

"Can we criticize Israel?" German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer asks in a widely published essay. Answering his own rhetorical question, Fischer writes, "Criticism is possible only on the firm foundation of indelible solidarity -- and there have been things in recent months that do compel Israel's friends to express criticism in the interest of Israel itself." But: "Given Germany's history, criticism of Israel always also reflects the mental state of our country."

And that state, on this question at least, has been bordering on hysterical lately. The seeds of the current controversy were planted some time back when Jürgen Möllemann, deputy chairman of the Free Democrats (FDP) and head of the German-Arab Society, remarked that he understood quite well the position of the Palestinians in the ongoing Mideast conflict. If another country were occupying his own, he said, he, too, would fight back -- violently, if necessary.

Those comments came and went more or less without consequence until memory of them was revived when Möllemann set out to bring Jamal Karsli, born in Syria and an outspoken critic of Israel, into the parliamentary group he heads in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia. That was the last straw for the Central Council of Jews in Germany who lashed out against Karsli as an anti-Semite.

Long story short: Karsli shunned membership in the FDP but will remain in Möllemann's parliamentary group as an independent. The compromise seems to have satisfied no one but Möllemann and the war of words has only escalated. Möllemann says his critics are playing straight into the hands of genuine anti-Semites in Germany; Paul Spiegel, president of the Jewish Council has fired back that this is "the greatest insult since the Holocaust."

Leaders of Germany's other parties are eager to pile on, particularly since the FDP is now scoring two percentage points lower in the polls since this brouhaha began. On the one hand, the flare-up is about inner party politics. Möllemann, a flamboyant campaigner who likes to parachute down into speaking engagements, has been locked in a power struggle with Guido Westerwelle over leadership of the FDP. Westerwelle, a yuppie-ish sort who seeks to present the FDP as a hip, pro-business alternative to the two staid main parties, won. He became the party's first ever candidate for chancellor just weeks ago. But this latest episode throws the spotlight back on Möllemann.

On the other hand, national elections are just months away and the field is wide open. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder leads challenger Edmund Stoiber in the polls. But Germans don't vote for chancellors, they vote for parties, and Schröder's Social Democrats (SPD) trail Stoiber's Christian Democrats (CDU). The decisive battle, then, may fall to the potential coalition partners: the FDP, likely to join up with the CDU, and the Greens, already governing with the SPD.

That's why Fischer, who heads up the Greens, laces his essay with bitter swipes both at Möllemann and at Westerwelle, for not being able to rein Möllemann in. The Greens are gleefully accusing the FDP of "Haiderization," that is, mimicking Jörg Haider's success in Austria when he went after the racist yuppie vote.

For his part, Westerwelle would no doubt rather have any other issue grabbing headlines as he set out on a previously planned trip to Israel on Sunday.

Elsewhere

The International Herald Tribune reports on what US President George W. Bush said in the Reichstag last week and on the reaction to it.