Last September, when Israel still had a government acceptable to the German establishment, the foundation of the large German media concern "Bertelsmann" published a new study on the relationship between Germany and Israel, which again confirmed the very disturbing results of the previous study on the matter from seven years ago: eight decades after the beginning of the implementation of "The final solution to the Jewish problem", which led to the extermination of a third of the Jewish people, the relationship between Germans and Israelis is a one-sided love story - of the Israelis in Germany.
According to the study, only 46% of Germans have a positive opinion of Israel while 34% of Germans have a negative opinion of it.
93% of Germans have never visited Israel, 66% of Germans have never been in contact with Israelis and 42% of Germans are not interested in news from Israel.
In view of the loose connection of most Germans with Israel and Israelis, it is clear why a negative opinion of Israel is so widespread in Germany: most Germans have no idea about what is happening in Israel, and those who wish to keep up to date with what is happening there, receive information from German media outlets with an anti-Israel bias, such as the German Public Broadcasting .
On the other hand, 63% of Israelis have a positive opinion of Germany and only 19% have a negative opinion.
58% of Israelis have never visited Germany, 71% of them had no contact with Germans, 58% of Israelis are not interested in news from Germany.
In view of the loose connection of the majority of Israelis with Germany, the question arises as to where such a solid majority in Israel has a positive opinion of Germany and who is responsible for creating this positive impression.
This, especially in view of the fact that only 35% of Germans believe that their country bears some special responsibility because of the Holocaust, 49% of Germans believe that 80 years after the Holocaust we should stop talking so much about the Holocaust, and 36% of Germans compare the Holocaust with the attitude of Israel for the Palestinians.
The problematic relationship between the two countries does not exist only among the German public opinion, but also at the governmental-institutional level.
This will be evidenced by the close embrace he received from the Bent-Lapid government on the part of the center-left German government of Olaf Schulz, and the reprimanding distancing approach taken by the German government towards the current right-wing government in Israel.
One can, of course, attribute the differences in attitude to the different political colors of the governments in Berlin and Jerusalem.
However, even when there was a government in Berlin headed by a chancellor from the conservative party, Angela Merkel, there was a lot of tension between the two capitals, although the level of bilateral relations in many areas flourished and prospered in an unprecedented way.
I want to say: the German establishment has a built-in problem with right-wing Israeli governments, which translates into practical German activity to change the Israeli political reality and shape it, so that it fits the needs of German foreign policy.
The main means of serving this goal is the large amount of German money that is invested in Israel, with the encouragement of right-wing opposition organizations, and is channeled, among other things, through the German political foundations of the left and the right.
Since the reparations agreements, signed 70 years ago, the impression has been created that Israel is dependent on German funds.
This historical equation is no longer relevant: today Germany depends on Israeli knowledge in many fields, and cooperation with Israel is a vital German interest.
That is, the balance of dependence has changed.
Now all that remains is to fix the remaining part of this equation, which allows Germany to influence Israeli politics, contrary to Israel's vital interests: to cause the cessation of German funding that undermines the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
Israel has every right to demand the stopping of this funding, while Germany, for example, has no right to express an opinion on legal reform in Israel.
If the Germans have excess money, they should invest it in bringing young Germans to Israel, so that they get to know Israel as it is, and not as it is reported in the German media.
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