German Intellectuals Warn The Arab League Against The Jewish Lobby

On Saturday, the German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published an interview with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on the current prospects for Middle East peace negotiations. Among other things, Moussa observes that peace with a Netanyahu government is “of course” possible, since “Netanyahu has the advantage of being clear about his positions.” But perhaps more revealing – and disturbing – than Moussa’s answers are the questions posed by FAZ correspondent Rainer Hermann. For instance, the following: “President Obama’s charisma could change a lot. But could not the Washington apparatus and the lobby quash his approach?”

The lobby? What lobby? The “Israel Lobby,” one presumes – although in less polite circles, it is still called rather the “Jewish Lobby.” Like Hermann, those less polite circles also assume that “the lobby” in question is intertwined with the Washington “apparatus” and is powerful enough to rival or even control the American government. Consequently, they refer to it sometimes by the acronym ZOG: the “Zionist Occupation Government,” i.e. the “ZOG” that secretly rules America. “The lobby” of which Hermann writes is so powerful that it can even “reduce to nothing” an express policy of the US president. This is the literal meaning of the verb phrase employed by Hermann (“zunichte machen”, which I have translated above by the more colloquial “quash”).

Presumably, Rainer Hermann will not be holding forth on the machinations of ZOG anytime soon in the pages of the FAZ. But that a correspondent of Germany’s most distinguished daily can so glibly refer to “the lobby” – with a wink and a nudge, as if his readers will know exactly what he is talking about – indicates that the boundaries of acceptable discourse on the subjects of Israel and Jews has clearly shifted in Germany. (The publication of Mearsheimer’s and Walt’s The Israel Lobby obviously has something to do with this. Perhaps not coincidentally, the book was published by the American FSG subsidiary of the privately-owned German publishing giant Holtzbrinck. The authors received a reported $750,000 advance for their manuscript: a mindboggling sum for two university professors.)

It is interesting to note that Moussa completely ignores Hermann’s question about “the lobby,” as if he found the reference somewhat embarrassing. “It is not Obama’s charisma that will change things, but his policy,” Moussa responds and then continues on in the same vein.

Hermann concludes the interview with yet another revealingly leading question. “At what point,” he asks, “does the Arab League begin to plead for the one-state-solution, i.e. for a single state with Israelis and Palestinians.” The “question” is obviously in fact more statement than question, since it suggests that sooner or later the point at issue must be reached: the point, namely, at which the only “solution” will be Israel’s elimination. Moussa’s relatively measured response again contrasts with Hermann’s zeal. “That is being discussed in all political circles,” Moussa replies, “Yes, it may become impossible to establish a Palestinian state.”