פורום ארץ הצבי

In contrast to the assertions in the article, the motivation of all
concerned is pretty clear, both from theri past records and from
.their current actions

Juergen Moellemann is in no way an Anti-Semite. He is merely a
cynical, opportunistic and unprincipled politician, who for years
switched between various political positions just to gain advantages
.for himself. He is not even particularly right-wing

There has been in the remote past a nationalistic tendency in the
German liberal party (The Free Democrats, or FDP in German), which
had some anti-Jewish undertones, but this generation of Liberal
right-wingers withdrew from the party after 1969, when it opted for
a coalition withWilly Brandt's Social Democrats (SPD), and has since
then died out. Moellemann has no connection whatever with that
.generation

He himself advocated recently a liberal coalition with the Social
.Democrats - a ''leftish'' position

JMoellemann is chairman of the German-Arab Friendship Society, which
is financed by influential firms, German-Arab chambers of commerce
and busienssmen trading with the Arab world, and indirectly by
Saudi Arabian oil money. This Society has been the chief lobbyist
for the Arabs in Germany, and has financed - again indirectly - many
of Moellemann's political activities, rather in the way of Barak's
.or Bibi's or Sharon's supposed ''charities'' in Israel

Moellemann is merely their mouthpiece in trumpeting the Arab
propaganda in Germany. However, since he has absolutely no sense of
proportion, he overshot the mark with blatant support for suicied
bombings - and earned immediately withering critique, not only from
.prominent Jews but also from leaders of his own party

,''Suggestions in the Israeli media that Moellemann is ''a new Haider
that is, ideologically anti-Jewish, are utterly false.Moellemann is
.simply too disinterested in ideology even to think in those terms

However, as part of his opportunistic tactics he arranged the
acceptance of the Syrian-born Jamal Karsli in the FDP faction in
,the regioanl parliament of the state of North Rhgine-Westphalia
.of which he is the chairman

- Karsli is indeed an anti-Semite in the best Arab style
hypocritically claiming he is merely criticising Israeli policy
towards the Palestinians, but at the same time constantly using code
,words like ''the Zionist lobby'' and expressing the deep-seated-
visceral Arab phobia which does not distinguish between Israel and
.Jews

Moellemann in his stupidity did not understand that Karsli's kind of
anti-Israelism is too close to anti-Semitism to be part of
respectable German political debate. He speculated on attracting
,through him the votes of naturalized, recently enfranchised Muslims
and thus combining his pro-Arab lobbyism with electoral gains for the
.FDP

A huge miscalculation: Not only is the great majority of thos Muslims
actually Turks, suspicious of Arabs and at least partially inclined
to Turkey's secualr republican tradition, but even the slightest hint
of anti-Semitism caused this electoral strategy to immediately lose
.all respectability and legitimacy among all sections of German society
So Moellemann had to beat a hasty retreat, the FDP hastened to throw
Karsli out, and paty chairman Westerwelle, who, as an unprincipled
opportunist himself stood aside and waited to see if Moellemann would
pull this trick, im´mediately rushed to disown him and seek
.understanding in Israel

All in all, the entire sordid affair shows that decisive politicians
and opinion-makers in Germany do take care to distinguish between
critique of Israel and anti-Semitism, and that there still exist a
strong reservoir of support for Israel if not for specific Israeli
policies; and, even more important, that these opinion-makers do see
through the Arab propaganda and understand the anti-Semitic roots of
.much of it

.So there are grounds for optimism