In your new book "Über Israel reden – Eine deutsche Debatte" (Kiepenheuer & Witsch) you say that anyone who talks about Israel should forget that Israel came into being after Auschwitz – and never forget it. Is that forgotten?

Juergen Kaube

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Sandra Kegel

Editor in charge of the arts section.

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No, I don't think it will be forgotten. What I mean by this is that every German debate about Israel takes place against the backdrop of the past. However, this backdrop should not prevent us from taking a sober look at the political situation in Israel. Admittedly, this is a challenge. The German culture of remembrance does not prescribe how to deal with Israel. This must always be renegotiated in society and politics.

A second historians' dispute is currently being discussed, which deals with the question of whether the Holocaust and colonialism are comparable. What does Israel have to do with this?

In my view, the current debate is only superficially about more memory of German colonial crimes. What it is all about: to place the Holocaust as just one crime next to other crimes against humanity in order to end Israel's privileged position – à la Merkel's raison d'être.

You mention Angela Merkel, who declared Israel's security a reason of state in the Knesset in 2008 due to Germany's historical responsibility. What do you think about this sentence? Isn't he a bit pretentious? As far as Israel's security is concerned, as Israeli citizens we would probably not rely on the Germans.

For me, this sentence raises questions. Is this a promise that can ever be kept? What does reason of state actually mean? Merkel said at the time that all her predecessors as chancellor were already equally committed to Israel's security. But that's not true. It was she who engraved the concept of reason of state into the official language of the Federal Republic in the first place. But since then, this key term has appeared in every relevant political statement, be it in the coalition agreement, in the BDS resolution or in the speeches of German officials in Israel. The term has multiplied in a way without anyone knowing exactly what it meant. Reason of state is a pre-democratic term and comes from Machiavelli. It means that the ruler dictates to the people what they should think. In this sense, therefore, both of you must accept what Mrs Merkel has said. That should be the attitude that one has to accept unquestioned.

And the exciting question remains, what exactly is meant by this.

Correct. Does that mean that the Bundeswehr will soon be at the Wailing Wall? That we send soldiers to Jerusalem? Does this depend on conditions? And which Israel is meant? We are currently experiencing that the country is at a crossroads. Should the government actually implement its plans, we would soon be dealing with a country that is no longer a liberal democracy. For all these reasons, I have great problems with Israel being given a kind of blank cheque with this term.

Because thereare consequences?