Germany’s Murky Role in the Shalit Negotiations

Are the Germans putting pressure on Israel on behalf of Hamas?

September 4, 2009 - by John Rosenthal
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There has been much talk lately of Germany negotiating a deal for the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit. The Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Palestinian militants in June 2006 and is reportedly being held by Hamas. The negotiations are supposedly being conducted by Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND. The accent in the English-language reports has been placed on the “help” being provided by Germany to the Israelis. Little attention has been paid to the benefits that Hamas might expect to obtain from the German efforts.

A headline in the August 27 edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) offers a different perspective. “Hamas is Counting on the Germans,” it reads. The German verb used in the headline is “hoffen”: literally, “to hope.” In the print edition, the article is accompanied by a photo of two young Israeli women staring upwards toward the sky on the background of a banner featuring Gilad Shalit’s portrait and the Israeli flag. The women’s hands are bound and their arms are outstretched in a beseeching gesture. The photo appears directly below the headline, thus creating an odd situation of cognitive dissonance. It is as if the two beseeching Israeli women were supposed to be Hamas members. The online version of the article uses a less symbolically-loaded photo of Israeli demonstrators. But given the juxtaposition of title and image, it too suggests a bizarre identity between the “hopes” of the Israelis and the “hopes” of Hamas.

FAZ correspondent Hans-Christian Rößler notes that Egypt had already undertaken efforts to obtain Shalit’s release before Germany got involved. “But from the beginning the Egyptian attempts at mediation came up against a difficulty,” Rößler explains. “On account of its harsh treatment of the Islamist Muslim Brothers in its own country, the Egyptian government was not regarded as an impartial broker by Hamas in Gaza.”

Evidently, the German government poses no such problems — to Hamas — in this regard.

Hamas is reportedly demanding the release of some 400 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the liberation of Shalit. According to the FAZ, the names on the Hamas “wish list” include not only Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences for murder in Israel, but also that of the planner of the 2002 Passover suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya, which left 30 Israeli civilians dead.

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John Rosenthal’s writings on European politics and transatlantic relations have appeared in English, French, and German in such leading publications as Policy Review, Les Temps Modernes, and Merkur. He holds a PhD in philosophy and he taught political philosophy and classical German philosophy before turning to journalism. More of his work can be found at Transatlantic Intelligencer.

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16 Comments

1. wayne:

I think it’s safe to assume that another thing the Islamists have never forgotten is that the Germans were always their best hope of getting rid of the Jews once and for all.

A leopard never changes the color of its spots and I have always thought that, despite their many protestations, the only thing many Germans ever really felt about the Holocaust was that they got caught before they finished the job.

Sep 4, 2009 - 6:01 am 2. David W. Lincoln:

Once again, leave it to the Krauts to be ignorant of past mistakes. Kristallnacht and plenty
of other stuff dished out against Jews shows that there are plenty of cultural knuckle draggers in Deutschland. They hold the Jewishness of Jews against Jews.

Well, it looks like Germans, just like Arabs, need perestroika. For where are the Germans who follow in the footsteps of Dietrich Bonhoeffer? For he, and I think Konrad Adenaeur, were the last Germans to command respect, and truly deserve to command respect.

Sep 4, 2009 - 8:09 am 3. Marie Claude:

I wouldn’t call Germans “evil” in that case, I know that Germany had/has special diplomatic abilities in Syria, May-be Iran too, EU used/uses to rely on her for dealing with these nations. whenever a problem occur.

May-be because many ME people go and learn in Germany universities

Actually, Gilad Shalit is also half French, Chirac, sarkozy have tried to active their “ties”, and it didn’t work.

Sep 4, 2009 - 8:55 am 4. Marsh:

The International Red Cross has not been allowed to ascertain the status of Gilad Shalit; nor have the other self proclaimed brokers of peace such as Jimmy Carter etc. So hundreds of convicted killers and terrorists are released; but can anyone be assured that Gilad is alive, and in what state?

Sep 4, 2009 - 9:15 pm 5. Marie Claude:

Hamas said ready to sign Shalit deal this weekend: http://bit.ly/2WBK14

Sep 4, 2009 - 9:22 pm 6. ronmossad:

Results of the Gilad Shalit Twitter campaign:

http://ronmossad.blogspot.com/2009/08/gilad-shalit-day.html

Pretty impressive considering it was the same day Ted Kennedy dying took over the news.

I was confused by that Haaretz article. Is he (Meshaal) signing the deal with Israel, or with Fatah? As much as I want Gilad home safe and sound, the prospect of 1,000 yelling and screaming murderers being released to Megrahi-style celebrations doesn’t sit very will with me either…

Sep 4, 2009 - 10:07 pm 7. syn:

President Obama will destroy Israel long before the world notices.

Sep 5, 2009 - 5:02 am 8. Thomas:

@7. syn:
The bad
With the eager help from the Communist Jews in the mulatto Soetero’s coterie. Next will be the USA on their plate: it’s going to be even easier thing: people here are elated at sighting this Joker, tears in their eyes, chanting adoring hymns of praise.
The good
Israelis despise him by 96% only 4% worship this Teleprompter King.

Word of caution:
armed to the teeth Europeans could not eradicate the unarmed, meek Jews over 2000 years. It’s yet to see how are going to succeed facing well armed, dedicated people who refuse to climb into the Joker’s oven. Does he have enough KAPOS for the task?

Sep 5, 2009 - 7:55 am 9. syn:

“It’s yet to see how are going to succeed facing well armed, dedicated people who refuse to climb into the Joker’s oven. Does he have enough KAPOS for the task?”

There is no need for ovens when the majority of Jewish people are gathered into one place half the size of California which can easy be eradicated by a few well placed bombs; this is enough to make Zbigniew Brzezinski, Robert Malley, Susan Rice and Samatha Power jump for joy.

And NY Liberals think that sending letters will somehow discourage President Obama and his team of well-chosen National Security Advisers from wiping Israel off the face of the planet.

Israel died the day NYC Liberals voted for their very own exterminator.

Sep 5, 2009 - 8:54 am 10. Thomas:

@9. syn:

You said:
“and Samatha Power jump for joy.”

You forgot to mention her HUSBAND the Jewish Cass Sunstein who:

“Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken.”

Everything else in you post is correct and factual.

Sep 5, 2009 - 10:06 am 11. Marie Claude:

“armed to the teeth Europeans could not eradicate the unarmed, meek Jews over 2000 years”

especially in Poland, where the left 5% of survivors meet pogroms when returning home

Sep 7, 2009 - 6:53 am 12. Thomas:

@11. Marie Claude:

How about Monsieur Pierre Laval, and the long list of:

“Category:French Nazi collaborators”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:French_Nazi_collaborators

Also:Pages in category “People of the Vichy regime”

Good reading for forgetful French.

Sep 7, 2009 - 8:15 am 13. Marie Claude:

mon cher Thomas, t’es un peu en retard

but thank you for reminding me that I can count you as a friend,
did you ever have friends BTW ? cuz the more I digg in your history, the more trouble I get, you never know on wich side you ought to put your chair, and not depending on the advanges you could get

check the differences :

http://kimel.net/jewpol.html

Sep 7, 2009 - 8:54 am 14. Marie Claude:

The worst offenders and collaborators were the Ukrainians, the Poles, Croats, and Lithuanians.

ce n’est pas moi qui l’écrit :

http://kimel.net/collab.html

Sep 7, 2009 - 9:15 am 15. Thomas:

@13. Marie Claude:
You said:
“you never know on wich side you ought to put your chair”

I already told you I am from Eastern Europe but as an erstwhile resident dans la rue Boulainvilliers, Porte de la Muette, 16eme, I know what the words “Fluctuat nec mergitur” mean, and I do know what happened in Europe: that knowledge made me an independent thinker.

I said 2000 years of persecution could not eradicate the unarmed Jews.

Your answer:
““The worst offenders and collaborators were the Ukrainians, the Poles, Croats, and Lithuanians.
has no relevance to my narrative for I am encompassing the History of Europe from Rome to present days, to wit, 2000 years.

Sep 7, 2009 - 11:26 am 16. Marie Claude:

alors you’re double traitor, each time you can, you try to paint us as the lowest in the world wide

now, please stay where you are, we don’t need persons that denigrate every possible french thing

Sep 7, 2009 - 11:52 am