The German refusal to accept responsibility for the security failures that caused the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games 50 years ago indicates a deeper problem that Germany has with Israel and the Jews.
This is not a stand-alone refusal.
It is part of a long-standing tradition of German refusal to bear responsibility for the injustices and crimes committed by Germans against Jews, and their consequences.
Apparently, Germany is seen today in the eyes of many Israelis and Jews as a nation that bravely faced the most criminal chapter of history in relation to the Jewish people, the Holocaust, and learned lessons from it.
We have forgiven the Germans to such an extent that there are among us today those who identify among us, without any foundation, processes that passed through Germany in the years when the Nazis came to power.
But, does this positive image stand up to the test of historical reality?
The memorial ceremony for the victims of the massacre in Munich,
Apparently, the reconciliation between Germany and the Jewish people and Israel was supposed to be based on a sincere German effort to atone for the crimes and intentions of the past.
But, instead of the Germans trying to convince the Jews that they deserve forgiveness, the Germans were busy throughout the timeline of the decades that have passed since the end of the Second Holocaust in efforts to convince themselves that they should ask the Jews for forgiveness at all.
In the 1950s, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer had to explain to his ministers the need for a reparations agreement between West Germany and the Jews and Israel in the negative impact on West Germany's international standing in the event of the agreement being rejected.
The approval was passed not out of goodwill but as coercion, i.e. a refusal to acknowledge responsibility.
East Germany, for its part, refused to pay its share of the reparations.
Those responsible for the Holocaust, as far as she was concerned, were all found in the West.
For the communist East, the communists and socialists were also victims of the Nazis.
And so united Germany was left owing a third of the amount of payments estimated today at billions of euros - a debt that cannot be talked about.
The establishment of diplomatic relations between West Germany and Israel in the mid-1960s was also accompanied by stubborn opposition from the German political establishment and large sections of German public opinion.
The great fear in the Bonn government at the time was the consequences the move would have on West Germany's political and economic relations with Arab countries and a vengeful reaction to Arab recognition in East Germany.
East Germany, by the way, did not establish diplomatic relations with Israel until its last day in October 1990.
Chancellor of Germany Olaf Schulz, photo: AP.
Then, the drama of the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics was added to all the distressing complications for the Germans in their relations with Israel and the Jewish world.
After being forced to pay reparations and being forced to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, the Germans removed almost all responsibility for the tragic events that led to the murder of the 11 Israeli athletes.
Responsibility for the intelligence failure: there was advance information about the intention of Palestinian terrorists to carry out an attack.
Responsibility for the security failure: due to the desire to create a positive image for Germany, very minimal security measures were taken around the Olympic Village and the Olympic Games;
The local internal security forces were not at all prepared for the possibility of dealing with an attack.
Responsibility for the operational failure: The attempt to free the hostages was carried out in an extremely amateurish manner and resulted in the death of most of the Israeli athletes.
Responsibility for the moral failure: the three terrorists who remained alive at the end of the atrocity were released from the German prison to prevent further terrorist attacks on the soil of West Germany.
West Germany surrendered to Palestinian terrorism.
Reducing German responsibility to the issue of paying reparations, even though this issue is substantial and significant.
Money allows the Germans to escape the other aspects of their responsibility for wrongs and crimes.
However, the Germans' insistence on not paying adequate compensation to the relatives of the victims of the Munich massacre is shameful.
Germany does not lack money.
This will be evidenced by the billions that Germany has been transferring for years to the Palestinian Authority, which continues to advocate violence against Israel and spreads hatred and incites anti-Semitism;
The hundreds of millions of euros that the German government transfers to the UN agency for the destruction of Israel, UNRA;
And the hundreds of millions of euros that the German government transfers to organizations and activities hostile to Israel and promoting delegitimization of the Jewish state.
Against Israel, the Germans have more than enough money.
A German police helicopter that was destroyed during the massacre in Munich, photo: Reuters
It is impossible to absolve the Israeli governments of responsibility for the creation of this crazy situation: almost all Israeli governments refrained from demanding that Germany fulfill its "historical commitment" to the Jewish people in the actions it is obligated to do.
Instead of turning the tables in the face of German evasions and hypocrisy, the Israeli governments behaved like a Jew in the ghetto afraid of provoking the fury of the Fritz.
Future healthy relations with Germany depend on changing the Israeli attitude.
If the policy of self-abnegation continues, there is no chance of making Germany bear its required responsibility.
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