“Imported anti-Semitism”: here is a clash between Lanz and the Iran expert

“Is that racist now?” Markus Lanz asked somewhat incredulously. “Yes,” replied journalist and Iran expert Gilda Sahebi. In concrete terms, Wednesday evening involved the term ‘imported anti-Semitism’. “We cannot now deny that we naturally brought hundreds of thousands of hatred of Jews into the country in 2015/2016,” Lanz said.

“The first time I talked about imported anti-Semitism here on this show, these were the exact same reactions. “I had to listen to how racist it all was,” said the ZDF presenter. ‘That is not a reflex, dear Mr Lanz. “That’s just a description,” Sahebi replied sharply. When Lanz asked, she also found his description racist and argued with him about other of his phrasing.

The Iranian-born doctor and journalist, who writes for the daily newspaper ‘Taz’, had previously accused CDU leader Friedrich Merz and other German politicians of ‘racist stories’. After celebrating Hamas’s attack on Israel, there was immediate talk of ‘imported anti-Semitism’, changes in citizenship laws and deportations – not only not a productive path for Sahebi, but also extremely dangerous.

“This is not imported anti-Semitism. This is our anti-Semitism,” Sahebi said. “To suggest that these people do not belong to Germany because they have a different ethnicity – that is racist and promotes division.” This can quickly have consequences for the very people you actually want to protect. “The greater the polarization, the greater the risk that Jews in Germany run,” Sahebi warned.

Lanz defended himself against his guest’s accusation and also questioned the accusations of racism against Merz. “Hundreds of thousands of people have come to us whose childhood and youth consisted of hating Israel and the Jews,” Lanz said. “Very easy. That’s a cultural background.” Sahebi agreed with this.

For them, the debate in Germany has been all about this point for weeks. It is again about ethnicity, about “THE” Muslims. Real solutions to problems, for example providing more information about the conflict in the Middle East in schools, once again faded into the background. “Instead of talking about this real problem, we are having racist debates,” Sahebi criticized. In the end, nothing will likely happen like after New Year’s Eve 2022/23.

This time it must definitely be different, demanded FDP vice-chairman Johannes Vogel. It is crucial that crimes are punished, regardless of who committed them. “The rule of law must become assertive,” the Bundestag member demanded. For him, this means that someone convicted of anti-Semitic incitement may not become a German. But Vogel also made it clear: no one should convince themselves that German citizens did not participate in the pro-Hamas demonstrations.

Like Sahebi, Vogel advocated that teachers in particular should be better informed about the conflict in the Middle East and that the subject should be firmly anchored in the curricula. Anti-Semitism in Germany does not only come from the right or from Muslims. Israel is currently also being denigrated by left-wing circles as an ‘apartheid state’ or a ‘colonial power’. This shows the “barbaric primal hatred” of the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas.

German historian Michael Wolffsohn, born in Tel Aviv, spoke to ‘Markus Lanz’ about the ‘tragedy of the Palestinian people’: ‘Terror is just an outlet through which you can express your anger, but achieves nothing politically.’ He compared the Palestinians under Hamas to the German people in World War II. The Germans should have been liberated from Nazi rule by the Allies: “Maybe it is the same with the Palestinians now.”

Do you feel sorry for the people in the Gaza Strip? Lanz asked the former professor at the Bundeswehr University in Munich. “Anyone with their heart in the right place cannot react differently,” said Wolfssohn, who, as a conscript in the Israeli army after the Six-Day War, invaded the Palestinian territories as an “occupier” (his choice of words). . “But sometimes you have to kill to avoid murder,” the historian said.

Regarding the argument that evening about so-called ‘imported anti-Semitism’, the historian made it clear: ‘The moment you import people, you also import the problems of these people.’ Then it depends on how willing and able the recipient countries are to enforce their laws. On this last point, Wolffsohn confirmed that Germany had serious shortages. This had been observed long before the traffic light coalition.

The historian also cast a critical eye on former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) when it came to Israel’s security, which she declared to be German reasons for statehood. Here the feeling was stronger than the rationale, according to Wolffsohn. Merkel actually made Israel a NATO member, which is of course nonsense. “There were nothing but costs,” was his conclusion.