Germany This article is more than 1 month oldIsrael-Hamas war opens up German debate over meaning of ‘Never again’
This article is more than 1 month oldIntellectuals clash over country’s traditional commitment to defence of Israel amid bloodshed in Gaza
The phrase “Never again” has been the central tenet of Germany’s political identity since the horrors of the Nazi-led Holocaust of Europe’s Jewish population. But the war between Israel and Hamas has opened up a fiercely fought debate about the phrase’s true meaning, dividing opinion among followers of the dominant German intellectual tradition.
A letter published in the Guardian pits several prominent German and international figures influenced by the Frankfurt School of neo-Marxist “critical theory” against its most prominent living member, Jürgen Habermas. They argue that “Never again” must also mean staying alert to the possibility that what is unfolding in Gaza could amount to genocide.
In a statement published on 13 November, Habermas made the case that the “Never again” principle must above all lead to a German commitment to protecting Jewish life and Israel’s right to exist.
Habermas, 94, sometimes described as a contemporary successor to the Enlightenment philosophers for his writing on themes of power and justice, argued that Israel’s military retaliation following the 7 October Hamas attacks was “justified in principle”. Likening the resulting bloodshed in Gaza to a genocide was beyond the boundaries of acceptable debate, he said.
“Despite all the concern for the fate of the Palestinian population […], the standards of judgment slip completely when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israel’s actions,” said the statement, which was also signed by the political scientist Rainer Forst, the lawyer Klaus Günther and the peace researcher Nicole Deitelhoff.
In response, the letter published on Wednesday echoes Habermas’s condemnation of the Hamas attack and hostage-taking, but expresses concern over the “apparent limits of the solidarity expressed” by the philosopher and his co-authors.
“The statement’s concern for human dignity is not adequately extended to Palestinian civilians in Gaza who are facing death and destruction,” it adds. “Nor is it applied or extended to Muslims in Germany experiencing rising Islamophobia. Solidarity means that the principle of human dignity must apply to all people. This requires us to recognise and address the suffering of all those affected by an armed conflict.”
The letter continues: “We are concerned that there is no mention of upholding international law, which also prohibits war crimes and crimes against humanity such as collective punishment, persecution, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure including schools, hospitals and places of worship.”
While “not all signatories believe that the legal standards for genocide have been met” by the situation in Gaza, the letter says, all of them “agree this is a matter of legitimate debate”.
On Sunday, a group of UN experts said there was “evidence of increasing genocidal incitement” against the Palestinian people. Israeli officials reject this.
The letter’s full list of more than 100 supporters includes several academics who have either directly emerged from the Frankfurt School or are employed at New York’s New School for Social Research, which sees itself working within the same critical theory tradition.
Other signatories include the economist Adam Tooze, the legal historian Samuel Moyn, and the philosophers Amia Srinivasan and Nancy Fraser.
More than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed by Hamas militants on 7 October. Since Israel’s counter-offensive was launched , more than 14,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Hamas-run health authorities.
On Wednesday, Israel and Hamas agreed a deal for the release of 50 women and children hostages held in Gaza in return for 150 Palestinian women and children to be freed from Israeli jails during a four-day ceasefire.
Founded in 1923, the Frankfurt School applied Marxist theory to philosophy and social theory to make sense of the rise of fascism out of apparently liberal European societies. Habermas, a former assistant to Theodor Adorno, took a more optimistic stance than the institution’s founding members, seeking to build an intellectual framework for democratic societies operating within market capitalism.
Habermas’s letter reflects a strong, cross-party pro-Israel consensus in German politics. The to-and-fro of statements comes on the back of a motion for a resolution put forward on 7 November by the three centre-left and liberal parties of Olaf Scholz’s coalition government, which proposes allowing the extradition of non-German citizenship holders who spread hatred against Jews, as well as withdrawing funding from cultural institutions that support the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Critics fear such a resolution would also result in the silencing of legitimate criticism of Israeli policies. In Berlin, the city senate is considering pulling funding for the Oyoun cultural centre in the German capital’s Neukölln district, after the centre’s directors reportedly refused to cancel a peace vigil by a leftwing Jewish group.
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