| German Christians celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations with Israel |
|
PRESS RELEASE: Berlin, April 28th, 2005
- Being the largest member state of the European Union, Germany continues to play a key role in European policies towards Israel, said executive director Rijk van Dam in Berlin. This influence has since the inception of the European Community in 1957 mostly been a positive one and the meetings were organised in order to encourage German legislators and church leaders to continue developing good relations with the Jewish state. But recent opinion polls carried out in Germany are portraying a less friendly picture. According to an opinion poll from the University in Biedenfeld more than 52 percent of the German population consider “Israeli treatment of the Palestinians as just as bad as the Nazi treatment of the Jews”. A similar poll conducted by the European Union in November 2003 showed that 59 percent of the Europeans considered Israel to be the greatest threat to world peace. In Germany this percentage was 63. - We take these signs very seriously, says Harald Eckert of the Christian Friends of Israel in Germany and a board member of the European Coalition for Israel. Friends of Israel are often said to be over-reacting to criticism of Israel but history teaches us that we can never wake up too early. It was already too late to stop Hitler in 1945. The Christians in this country, and all over Europe, should have woken up and taken action at least ten years earlier, says Eckert. The initiative to raise issues which concerns EU-Israeli relations also on a European level is part of such a strategy of early warning system, explains van Dam. -We believe that there are millions of European Christians who share our concern for Israel and the Jewish people. And many of these are in Germany. In Berlin the European Coalition for Israel was presented for members of Bundestag and local church leaders. According to van Dam and Eckert, the reception was warm and friendly. The Coalition was invited back to Berlin later in the year in order to meet with the Parliamentary delegation to Israel. Also local churches expressed an interest in being more directly involved in the European initiative. The visit to Berlin is part of an on going campaign to visit the capitals of the European Union member states. Previous trips have included Warsaw, London and Dublin. In the coming months similar visits are planned for Prague, Budapest and Paris. |
After 40 years of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel Christians in Germany are looking for new ways of fighting anti-Semitism and rallying behind Israel. Earlier in the week Christian leaders from leading pro-Israel organisations met in Berlin to introduce the new initiative to promote better relations between Israel and the European union; the European Coalition for Israel. The Coalition was formally launched in March of 2004 and has been inspired and supported by a similar German initiative to mobilise support on a national level.