Israelis view Germany more positively than Germans view Israel. That is the result of an analysis by the Bertelsmann Foundation on relations between the two countries, published in Gütersloh on Friday. Accordingly, 63 percent of people in Israel have a good opinion of Germany, 19 percent see the Federal Republic negatively. In contrast, 46 percent of Germans have a positive image of Israel, but 34 percent see the country in a bad light.
According to the survey, the view of Germany’s special responsibility for the Jewish people derived from history also varies. According to this, 58 percent of Israelis are convinced of it, but only 35 percent of Germans see it “unreservedly” that way. According to the survey, only 27 percent of Germans recognize a responsibility for Israel as a state derived from history.
Differences with regard to historical responsibility
The foundation published the analysis in view of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s upcoming visit to Germany, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday. Herzog was received by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, among others, gave a speech in the Bundestag and visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp memorial.
According to Bertelsmann, the study is based on representative surveys in Germany and Israel, which were organized on their behalf about a year ago between the end of August and the beginning of October 2021. Scientists from Israel and Germany then evaluated them.
Accordingly, there are differences not least in the assessment of how Germany’s historical responsibility should be reflected in the current political situation. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, 61 percent of Israelis are hoping for “unilateral political support” from the federal government in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Among Germans, this position is far from being the majority. Only twelve percent share this attitude.
According to the survey, people in Germany also have a very negative image of the current Israeli government. Only 24 percent rate it positively, while 43 take the opposite view and 32 percent don’t dare judge. Among younger respondents between the ages of 18 and 29, only 15 percent of respondents see the current Israeli government positively.
The Israeli population’s view of the current German government, on the other hand, is far less critical. 55 percent of the people there evaluate them positively, only twelve percent negatively. Younger respondents are just a little more reserved there. At least 47 percent still praise the German government.
Different lessons from history
In Germany, 49 percent of those questioned are in favor of drawing a “clean line” under the past and coming to terms with it, while 33 percent are clearly against it. In Israel, 60 percent reject a “closure”, only 14 percent support it. According to the survey, Israelis are divided on the question of whether the Holocaust is still straining relations between Israel and Germany. 48 percent see it that way, 42 percent rather or not at all.
Bertelsmann expert Stephan Vogel assessed the differences, among other things, as “the result of different security situations and different political cultures”. Germans and Israelis have also drawn different lessons from history. The maxim “Never again war” applies to the vast majority of Germans, but for the people in Israel it means “Never again be a victim”.
According to the foundation, the evaluation also revealed indications of widespread anti-Semitic attitudes in Germany. According to this, 24 percent of Germans agreed that Jews had too much influence in the world. At the same time, however, the foundation pointed out that only individual aspects of the “complex phenomenon of anti-Semitism” were examined. The results “tend to be higher” than comparable studies on anti-Semitism.