Germany's stance alongside Israel at the International Criminal Court at The Hague and its support for the Israeli position – that the court doesn't have jurisdiction to discuss "war crimes" allegedly perpetrated by Israel, chiefly pertaining to "the crime of settlement" – should not be taken for granted in any way, shape or form.
Less than a year ago, Germany's Ambassador to the United Nations and Chancellor Angela Merkel's former diplomatic adviser, Christoph Heusgen, equated Israel to North Korea and even more stridently defended a made-up international law – which contradicts official international law – which states that the settlements are illegal. Now, Germany is arguing before the judges at The Hague that they don't have jurisdiction to discuss complaints issued by the Palestinians and their collaborators, because there is no such thing as the "State of Palestine."
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After years of an exceedingly strong chill in Israeli-German relations, something good has happened: The Bundestag became the first parliamentary house to define the BDS movement as anti-Semitic and call for the cessation of government and public funding to organizations with affiliations to it. The Bundestag passed a stringent resolution calling for increased oversight of the BDS movement and its activists in Germany, and it has called on the government to discard the distinction between Hezbollah's political and military wings and to outlaw both. In international forums, Germany has very cautiously begun changing its traditional voting habits against Israel; and against Iran, the country's tone is growing increasingly harsh and appears to be slowly approximating the Israeli-American position on the matter.
What exactly is behind this change? First, the clear and decisive policies put forth by the American administration. Beyond that, a slow but consistent change has taken place in Israel's favor within the German government and society – due to the Arab Spring and its collapse; Islamic terror which has also struck at Germany; and massive immigration from Middle Eastern countries, with all the problems it entails. A growing number of Germans are presently expressing sympathy for Israel's position and realize that Germany can benefit greatly from cooperating with it; not just militarily, but also economically.
Germany's shifting political map has also meant the shattering of traditional status quos in terms of Israel – which led Germany to become the Palestinians' biggest patron and use the European Union to pass problematic resolutions from Israel's perspective. If in the past there was bipartisan consensus over merely ceremonial support for Israel and practical support for the Palestinians, the considerable support for Israel from the leadership of the new right-wing Alternative for Germany party, has forced the majority of other parties to fall in line and begin showing actual support for Israel.
The Merkel era, which was largely good for Israel, is about to end, and perhaps quicker than expected. It isn't certain that her successors will share her sense of commitment to Israel. After the election in Israel, the new government should endeavor to find and open avenues of communication with the next generation of German leaders, with an understanding of the emerging political map rather than a reliance on past patterns of behavior. And we can also hope that Germany continues to expand its differences of opinion with the European Union.
