There is no question: No German chancellor has ever contributed more significantly to upgrading relations between their country and Israel than Angela Merkel; not Konrad Adenauer and not Helmut Kohl, both conservatives, and certainly not the social democratic chancellors Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt or Gerhard Schröder. This is evidenced by the number of times Merkel has visited Israel (this is her eighth visit; more than any other German leader during their tenure), and the citations and honorary degrees she has received through the years from Israeli and Jewish institutions is countless.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Merkel, who declared at the United Nations and the Knesset that Israel's existence and security are an integral part of Germany's national interest and inserted her country's commitment to Israel as a Jewish state into the charters of the government's she has headed, has been able to convince many Israelis that a "different Germany" now exists.
Yet still, despite her many contributions to Israeli-German relations, she leaves her successor numerous issues that muddy this relationship and perpetuates the problems afflicting it. First and foremost is the issue of the "missing third" in compensation payments to Israel for the Holocaust. In the 1950s, Israel asked West Germany and East Germany for $1.5 billion in aid to help it absorb Holocaust survivors.
Based on its size, West Germany should have paid some two-thirds of that sum, and East Germany the remaining third. Communist East Germany, where Merkel grew up, never paid Israel its share, despite giving generous financial aid to Israel's Arab enemies. The current value of this "missing third" is estimated at around $17 billion. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would do well to stop obsessing about Poland and kindly ask the Germans to pay their decades-old debt. Just as East Germany transferred money to Israel's enemies, including the PLO, Merkel's governments have also transferred considerable funds to UNRWA, whose very existence represents a call for the eradication of the Jewish state. Throughout Merkel's time in office, this annual aid has mushroomed from around 3 million euros to more than 170 million euros.
There is also the problem of Germany's support for anti-Israel resolutions at international forums, which also contradict its stated commitment to Israel, and its hiding behind European Union resolutions as an excuse to adopt anti-Israel positions. Germany is one of the European countries preventing the evacuation of the illegal settlement of Khan al-Ahmar, in complete contravention of international agreements.
Merkel's Germany encouraged Israelis to move to Berlin but insisted that swathes of their homeland be "Judenrein" (clean of Jews). And, of course, there is also the matter of German political and private funds intervening in Israel's domestic affairs. Merkel should have directed her government ministries to change how these political groups, supported by public funds, conduct themselves in Israel, so that their only mission is to promote and advance relations between the two countries and not to "teach democracy" to Israelis or push them toward peace and brotherhood with other nations.
All of these problems will be inherited by Merkel's successors. She can use her final days as chancellor to change some of these things. Israel, for its part, must also insist she does so, instead of pandering and placating.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
