Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., March 13, 2008 Adar2 7, 5768 | | Israel Time: 01:46 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Olmert's mission in Berlin
By Benjamin Weinthal
Tags: Angela Merkel

BERLIN - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will arrive here on Sunday for a two-day visit that will serve as either a defining moment in Israeli-German relations or as an empty round of diplomatic gestures.

As the first meeting between Olmert and Chancellor Angela Merkel since the release of the American National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's nuclear program two months ago, the visit is likely to be overshadowed by that subject. The NIE asserts that Iran discontinued its nuclear weapons program in 2003, whereas Israeli intelligence suggests that Iran persists in its drive to develop a nuclear bomb.

Although Merkel and Olmert's agenda also includes instability, in Gaza in particular and the Middle East in general, the principal area in which Germany can flex its foreign-policy muscles is its political and economic relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Indeed, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier recently negotiated a third round of sanctions against Iran among the permanent members of the UN Security Council. Critics assert, however, that Security Council sanctions are symbolic measures. In fact, according to a report in the daily Frankfurter Rundschau, the Russians and Chinese only agreed to the sanctions as a "small favor" to help Steinmeier's Social Democratic Party in regional elections that were about to take place in Hesse and Lower Saxony.
Advertisement
The new UN penalties, which may not even be approved by the full Security Council, will in any event not impede the flourishing trade relationship between Germany and Iran. Germany was the European Union's biggest exporter to Iran in 2007 (3.5 billion euros of goods), selling it nearly 1.5 billion euros' worth of engineering products and high-tech equipment, two categories that fall into the gray zone of dual-use technology. This is "Made in Germany" merchandise that can be applied either to nonmilitary use or the creation of a nuclear weapons arsenal. (In late January, the German engineering giant Siemens, which is active in Iran's dual-use energy and medical sectors, acknowledged that it had spent 19 million euros bribing Iranian officials to do business with it. The exact nature of the quid pro quo of the German-Iranian bribery scandal still remains a mystery.)

Although German exports to Iran shrank by 15 percent last year, there is a new twist, involving a dramatic 50-percent increase of business going in the opposite direction, with Iranian exports to Germany totaling 580 million euros - trade that entails more than just Iranian pistachio nuts. The German business daily Handelsblatt wrote in January that there is a "growing resistance among the German business class against sanctions."

Merkel, writing in the same paper on December 27, suggested that Iran still remains a dangerous threat to world security. Yet one of the more startling recent revelations of her tough anti-Iranian rhetoric concerned not German firms, but neighboring Austria: In a meeting in New York last September, the chancellor sharply criticized the 22-billion-euro oil deal between the partially state-owned Austrian oil and energy company OMV, and Iran. The announcement this week that German gas company RWE will become a partner in the Nabucco natural gas pipeline plan controlled by OMV suggests, however, that the possibility of influencing Iran is being significantly undercut in favor of Iranian gas that will flow to Europe through the pipeline.

The yawning gap between Merkel's political posture and the unpleasant reality on the ground back in Germany remains astonishing to the detached observer. Prime Minister Olmert seems to have not even registered her recent rebuff of his request to deny the mid-December release of two Iranian contract killers, who assassinated four Iranian political dissidents in Berlin in 1992. Olmert sought to have Germany condition the release of one of the convicted murders on Iran's supplying information on the fate of missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who was captured in Lebanon in 1986 and who is believed to have been transferred at some point to Iran.

Olmert and Israeli diplomats here in Germany invoke a standard foreign-policy formula regarding Germany's approach to Iran: They offer cordial recognition - frequently even praise - of German progress in arranging for watered-down sanctions, together with a plea for upping the level of economic and political pressure on Iran. Time is not Israel's ally regarding Iran's determination to enrich uranium , which is not needed for production of civilian nuclear energy, but is a precondition for an atomic weapon. Iran's refusal to suspend its uranium-enrichment program is the basis for UN and European Union sanctions.

The mullahs' oft-repeated threats to eliminate Israel are frequently downplayed in sectors of German society as the empty ravings of pathologically religious zealots. This marginalizing of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's language represents a bizarre understanding of history in a nation in which not so long ago, a fundamentally mad dictator implemented his rhetoric to wage war against Jews, homosexuals, political dissidents, and Roma and Sinti.

When Olmert touches down at Tegel Airport in two days, he will be confronted with two choices: Israel can behave like a kind of orphan begging for a second helping of watered-down porridge, or it can embrace a public diplomatic offensive intended to convince Germany to take an assertive lead on clamping down on economic relations with Iran. German politicians like Ruprecht Polenz, the Iran-friendly head of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee (and Merkel's party colleague), will argue that China and Russia will fill any gap created by Germany's withdrawal from trade with Iran. Polenz's bogus argument ignores the fact that the Chinese and Russians cannot supply Iran with the sophisticated Western-design technology necessary for Iran's growing infrastructure.

A comprehensive economic embargo campaign against Iran has to begin somewhere in Europe, and Germany is the logical departure point. Its leverage in Tehran can contribute to preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, ending that country's material support of the terror activities of Hezbollah and Hamas, and stabilizing Middle East relations. In March, the German cabinet, including Chancellor Merkel, will travel to Israel for a ceremonial meeting in celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary. What better way to reinforce the existence of Israel for 60 years than to sever economic and political ties with Iran, a country yearning for the destruction of Israeli democracy.

Benjamin Weinthal is an independent journalist working in Berlin.
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Hezbollah scare
Lebanese group's influence has dramatically increased in the West Bank.
Literary boycott
Peres calls Muslim countries' shunning of Paris Book Fair 'most ridiculous.'
  1.   THE ISRAEL ALWAYS RAPING THE GERMANY 10:07  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 08/02/08
  2.   how history repeats itself 10:08  |  whoopsie 08/02/08
  3.   WHAT IF GERMANY DEEPLY SUPPORT IRAN ? 10:12  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 08/02/08
  4.   An embargo of Iran is a waste of time and is counter productive 10:13  |  Natallie Durson 08/02/08
  5.   A HISTORICAL "WORN-OUT" BLACKMAIL, AS USUAL 10:20  |  indrajaya 08/02/08
  6.   SUBJECT IS GERMANY ! YOU MADE THEM LOSE TWO WORLD WAR 10:22  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 08/02/08
  7.   SO! SUBJECT IS GERMANY ! YOU MADE THEM LOSE TWO WORLD WAR 10:23  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 08/02/08
  8.   GERMANY HOSTAGE TO ITS PAST... ABUSED BY JEWISH LOBBY 11:11  |  TripleJump 08/02/08
  9.   German behaviour a mortal danger for Israel 11:26  |  Jonathan S 08/02/08
  10.   Ahmedinazad never said israel will be wiped out. stop this lying 11:51  |  truth teller 08/02/08
  11.   A ridiculous piece of conspiracy theory 12:01  |  Axel 08/02/08
  12.   Iran I 12:11  |  Bob 08/02/08
  13.   Iran II 12:12  |  Bob 08/02/08
  14.   Iran III 12:13  |  Bob 08/02/08
  15.   3. triple: no need to worry 12:23  |  whoopsie 08/02/08
  16.   5. just one question, Jonathan 12:26  |  flimflam 08/02/08
  17.   WE OWE YOU NOTHING, JEWS 12:33  |  indrajaya 08/02/08
  18.   nuclear Enrichment 13:02  |  anon 08/02/08
  19.   #10 Axel 13:08  |  birgit 08/02/08
  20.   just a teeny-weeny difference ... 13:12  |  Axel 08/02/08
  21.   embargo preaching from a country ... 13:24  |  Axel 08/02/08
  22.   To the Yeke in Haaretz 13:26  |  Dror 08/02/08
  23.   Yeke cont. 13:33  |  Dror 08/02/08
  24.   # 10 anon 13:45  |  Axel 08/02/08
  25.   Iran is our good and old friend 14:02  |  Fritz T. 08/02/08
  26.   #19, birgit 14:09  |  Fritz T. 08/02/08
  27.   Did we hear your voice, Mr. Weinthal ... 14:09  |  Axel 08/02/08
  28.   truth teller - are you for real? 14:12  |  dovvod 08/02/08
  29.   Dror vs. Weinthal 14:12  |  christoph 08/02/08
  30.   Axel and embargo preaching 14:23  |  Dror 08/02/08
  31.   Emotional extortion. 14:30  |  Salahudin the Great 08/02/08
  32.   Paragraph beginning "The mullahs` oft repeated 14:50  |  jpudentain 08/02/08
  33.   JONATHAN S NEEDS HIS MEDICINE 14:53  |  annal@yahoo.com 08/02/08
  34.   Dror: "you are a spiritually ill" 14:57  |  christoph 08/02/08
  35.   Nations as Whores 15:12  |  John I aka Y Gideon 08/02/08
  36.   # 23, Dror 15:36  |  gabi 08/02/08
  37.   Germany, a bootlicker of the mullah regime 15:49  |  Jonathan S 08/02/08
  38.   Olmert in Berlin 16:04  |  Jonathan S 08/02/08
  39.   Christoph 16:24  |  Dror 08/02/08
  40.   embargo again? 16:24  |  sam i am 08/02/08
  41.   how are the jews going to 16:28  |  sam i am 08/02/08
  42.   dror the carpetbagger 16:32  |  sam i am 08/02/08
  43.   A very polite article 16:55  |  Jonathan S 08/02/08
  44.   An embargo is needed 18:10  |  Doom 08/02/08
  45.   Germany, profits and sanctions 18:39  |  Jonathan S 08/02/08
  46.   Response to an earlier variation of Weinthal on the same theme 18:40  |  Tosefta 08/02/08
  47.   If Israel officially boycotts Germany 19:35  |  Paul Wood 08/02/08
  48.   #9 Jonathan S 19:40  |  Paul Wood 08/02/08
  49.   #22 Well, ouch, Dror!! 20:25  |  ballistic 08/02/08
  50.   embargo? nonsense. nuke iran now. 21:26  |  frenz 08/02/08
  51.   atilla or mrs. rochester? 21:28  |  frenz 08/02/08
  52.   Jonathan S you`re great, go on. 21:54  |  christoph 08/02/08
  53.   ballistic 22:18  |  Danite 08/02/08
  54.   Weinthal is absolutely correct 22:25  |  Jonathan S 08/02/08
  55.   Israel to ask Germany for radioactive protective suits 22:30  |  Jonathan S 08/02/08
  56.   Dror 22:53  |  Zvi 08/02/08
  57.   Dror II 22:56  |  Zvi 08/02/08
  58.   O Jonathan (9), you do not know all. You are missing the fact 23:26  |  Karl 08/02/08
  59.   Axel #27 23:30  |  birgit 08/02/08
  60.   # 30 dror 23:35  |  Axel 08/02/08
  61.   I bet Olmert will offer lots of oil and gas to Germany in exchang 23:44  |  ManInTheMiddle 08/02/08
  62.   Zvi, being european 23:47  |  Dror 08/02/08
  63.   #45 What does a scum-back like Jonathan in Germany? 00:01  |  Bruni 09/02/08
  64.   If I am a homie now?? 00:06  |  Dror 09/02/08
  65.   I do understand you well about the Germans, Dror 00:10  |  Karl 09/02/08
  66.   Rocket into Gaza; rockets out of Gaza!! 00:20  |  kathy 09/02/08
  67.   # 53 birgit 00:21  |  Axel 09/02/08
  68.   Axel #59 00:34  |  birgit 09/02/08
  69.   Germans and Austrians 00:37  |  claude 09/02/08
  70.   dror 00:52  |  Axel 09/02/08
  71.   Danite, never mind your usual bait and switch! 00:54  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  72.   There seems to be some special bond... 00:57  |  Edith 09/02/08
  73.   #55 Golly Zvi 00:59  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  74.   # 61 bruni 01:01  |  Axel 09/02/08
  75.   #60 Well, ouch again, bandaid needed!!! 01:02  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  76.   #64 Yep, Dror, you sound like a homie! 01:05  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  77.   # 68 birgit 01:05  |  Axel 09/02/08
  78.   #63 Bruni 01:07  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  79.   dror 01:30  |  Axel 09/02/08
  80.   #77 Axel 02:24  |  birgit 09/02/08
  81.   Axel and Birgit 02:27  |  roland 09/02/08
  82.   # 80 birgit 03:25  |  Axel 09/02/08
  83.   # 81 roland 03:30  |  Axel 09/02/08
  84.   Axel 03:48  |  Roland 09/02/08
  85.   Axel again 03:52  |  birgit 09/02/08
  86.   Golly Ballistic!! 04:01  |  Zvi 09/02/08
  87.   Ballistic, Dear Friend 04:29  |  Zvi 09/02/08
  88.   #Say Zvi 04:37  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  89.   re roland 04:40  |  Axel 09/02/08
  90.   #86 BTW Zvi 04:43  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  91.   ballistic 05:23  |  Danite 09/02/08
  92.   to #50 frenz 07:59  |  asher 09/02/08
  93.   Germany`s trade with Iran 08:35  |  Florence Braun 09/02/08
  94.   axel 08:47  |  roland 09/02/08
  95.   to Dror, in his reply to "Zvi, being european" 09:10  |  boolbool talk 09/02/08
  96.   Israel to ask Germany for radioactive protective suits 09:18  |  Dee 09/02/08
  97.   to "ballistic" in 01:05, your mentioning Obama 09:30  |  avigdor 09/02/08
  98.   "ballistic" :Jesus said to the Jews, you`re the children of Satan 09:58  |  avigdor 09/02/08
  99.   #20, Axel 12:46  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 09/02/08
  100.   # 69 oh please, everyone has his/her price 12:56  |  Kris 09/02/08
  101.   PM Olmert will have to convince the public 13:04  |  Kris 09/02/08
  102.   Dror and his Mizrachi boolbool for boolbooltalk 13:23  |  Dror 09/02/08
  103.   more babble from the boolbool for boolbooltalk 14:00  |  Dror 09/02/08
  104.   Why Germany cannot be trusted 15:40  |  Jonathan S 09/02/08
  105.   Germany has a long list of collaboration 15:52  |  Jonathan S 09/02/08
  106.   End the German Navy hoax! 16:08  |  Jonathan S 09/02/08
  107.   97 dear avigdor. jesus had also said.... 16:52  |  bozhidarevski bob 09/02/08
  108.   # 94 roland 17:47  |  Axel 09/02/08
  109.   # 99 cjk 17:49  |  Axel 09/02/08
  110.   An article lacking in detail is useless 19:23  |  Tosefta 09/02/08
  111.   How mad are the mullahs? 19:46  |  tadchase 09/02/08
  112.   Israel endangered by Kassams, not by Mullahs 20:05  |  otto 09/02/08
  113.   Germany should not provide any weapon`s material to Iran 20:18  |  Sensible 09/02/08
  114.   Avigdor 21:50  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  115.   Avigdor; what is your reference 1:05 22:01  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  116.   Say Danite; my reality is fine. 22:09  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  117.   #87 My dear friend Zvi 22:14  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  118.   There is Jonathan, plopped in German and 22:20  |  ballistic 09/02/08
  119.   Tosefta with zero factual knowledge #110 22:20  |  Jonathan S 09/02/08
  120.   Germany and the Islamic bomb 22:32  |  Jonathan S 09/02/08
  121.   Axel 22:35  |  roland 09/02/08
  122.   Factual knowledge (Jonathan S #119) 23:27  |  Tosefta 09/02/08
  123.   @ # 34 christoph 23:30  |  Alex 09/02/08
  124.   #JohnathanS The last war never ended for some... 00:48  |  Maureen Ann 10/02/08
  125.   ballistic, thanks for the backing 01:18  |  Dror 10/02/08
  126.   @ Dror 01:45  |  Alex 10/02/08
  127.   Factual knowledge (Jonathan S #119) 02:16  |  Tosefta 10/02/08
  128.   Factual knowledge (Jonathan S #119) 03:37  |  Tosefta 10/02/08
 Today Online
Abbas accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' in Jerusalem
Responses: 209
At least 30 Qassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since Wed.
Responses: 162
Amira Hass: PA officials should act more like Gandhi
Responses: 72
Poll: Half of Jewish public oppose Arabs in their neighborhoods
Responses: 125
Wagner show in Nazi-era hall to raise funds for Ramallah venue
Responses: 80


More Headlines
22:40 At least 30 Qassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since Wed.
22:13 Israel Bank intervenes in foreign currency market, buys dollars
01:35 Israel and France have a second honeymoon as Peres visits Sarkozy
22:23 Abbas accuses Israel of committing 'ethnic cleansing' in Jerusalem
01:01 Police arrest rabbi for 'inciting Palestinians' in East Jerusalem
20:56 Jerusalem yeshiva commemorates 8 students slain in terror attack
23:17 Traffic cop jailed for shooting at drivers who refused to pull over
00:43 Rubinstein competition / Exalted strokes outweigh the flaws
19:07 Ban: Israel must halt 'excessive force' against Palestinians
20:41 Hezbollah becoming more visible in West Bank after Mughniyah death
21:02 Arab states boycott Paris book fair over Israel honor
20:38 Two Kiryat Ata men arrested for attacking Arab workers
Previous Editions
Special Offers
Advertisement
FAREWELL ISRAEL New Film
The Coming War for Islamic Revival - View Movie Trailer
READY FOR PURIM?
BUT - Who Will Guard The Hamentasch?
Free the Palestinians from:
Corrupt Kleptocracy, Tyrannical Theocracy, Abysmal Anarchy
Long-term Israel programs
MASA is your gateway. More programs. More grants.
NEW! Dan Boutique Jerusalem Hotel
Hip Dan Hotel in Jerusalem. Attractive Introductory Rates
7589 rockets fired so far
HELP US TO HELP THEM
FREE JEWISH HISTORY COURSE
Berel Wein's best selling lectures. 5000 Years in Five hours /CD/MP3
Marina Royale Herzelia Pituach
Your Luxurious Suite While Staying in Israel
Fattal Hotel Chain
Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel.
ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel
Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved