Last updated in November 2009
Political relations
Germany has a special relationship with Israel owing to its responsibility for the Shoah, the systematic genocide of some six million European Jews during the National Socialist dictatorship.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations on 12 May 1965, German-Israeli relations have continued to grow deeper and closer in the official and civic domain. Today, German-Israeli relations are close and friendly. To deepen them even further and to promote networking, particularly among young people in the two countries, the German-Israeli Future Forum has been set up.
The unique relations between Germany and Israel are a cornerstone of German foreign policy. Germany is a staunch supporter of Israel’s right to exist and, as an active partner in the EU, promotes peace efforts in the Middle East. In the United Nations, it seeks to strike a fair balance in dealings with the two sides to the conflict. In the European Union, Germany supports the active integration of Israel as part of the EU’s association policy. In international bodies, Germany combats all forms of antisemitism, racism and xenophobia.
The first German-Israeli intergovernmental consultations, held on 17 March 2008, have opened a new chapter in relations between the two countries. During the visit by the Federal Chancellor and eight of her ministers, agreement was reached on projects in the following areas: foreign policy, defence, economy, youth exchange, judicial cooperation, environmental protection and science and research. The next intergovernmental consultations will be held in Berlin on 30 November 2009.
Economic relations
In2008, the EU remained Israel’s most important trading partner: 34 per cent of the country’s imports came from the EU and 33 per cent of its exports went to EU countries. The USA remains Israel’s principal bilateral trading partner, followed in 2008 by China, Germany, Switzerland and Italy for imports, and the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Turkey for exports.
In 2008, the volume of Israeliexports to Germany grew by 2.6 per cent, to USD 1.91 billion, and the volume of imports from Germany increased by 13.2 per cent, to USD 3.94 billion. Israel’s principal exports to Germany are machinery, optical and measuring instruments, chemical products, metal, rubber and plastic goods. Israel’s main imports from Germany are machinery and plant, chemical pre-products and final products and vehicles. In the first quarter of 2009, however, bilateral trade followed the negative global economic trend, with both imports and exports declining by more than 30 per cent.
Products made in Germany continue to enjoy an excellent reputation in Israel. Before the effects of the 2008 crisis began to be felt, German machine and plant construction in particular was able to benefit from Israel’s continuing economic growth, especially in the capital goods sector. Bilateral economic exchange gained further impetus through active cooperation in science and technology. Israel is an important destination for venture capital and modern technologies. Numerous German companies are active in Israel, the volume of direct investment being estimated at around EUR 100 million. In recent years, new direct investments have been made in particular by SAP, Siemens and Deutsche Telekom. Israeli investment in Germany, at more than EUR 1 billion, clearly exceeds this level of engagement, with investments being increasingly being made in the German property sector.
The Israeli-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce has been active in Israel for more than 40 years, and since 1995 has been part of the German Chamber Network. It is affiliated to the German-Israeli Business Association (DIW) and is thus equally well networked in both countries.
Trade unions
Long before diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, contacts existed between the workers’ organizations in Israel and Germany. Contacts between the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) and its Israeli counterpart Histadrut date back as far as 1957. In 1975, the two confederations signed a formal partnership agreement (the only one of its kind worldwide for both organizations). Joint seminars on current as well as historical and political topics are held regularly in both countries. An area that remains of special importance even today is youth exchange. Every year, there are mutual information visits by the youth organizations. Over the years, this has given rise to a close cooperation and encounter network.
The DGB supports and encourages the Histadrut’s efforts to cooperate with the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions.
Cultural and educational relations
Cultural exchange with Germany is as diverse as the cultural landscape in Israel. The scope, intensity and level of cultural activities are, however, directly affected by the precarious security situation. After the hiatus in activities during the 2nd Intifada, the number of Germans artists and cultural professionals travelling to Israel has, happily, picked up again. The second war with Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and the Gaza war at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 only briefly interrupted this trend.
The close ties between Judaism and Christianity, the contributions of the Jews to European and German intellectual history as well as the European roots of Zionism and its influence on the modern Israeli state, and the Holocaust are what make up the special quality of German-Israeli cultural relations.
The network of German cultural actors and institutions in Israel covers practically all relevant societal groups. The many cultural intermediaries/institutions include: the Goethe Institutes in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; the German academic teachers and guest lecturers in Jerusalem and Haifa provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); the political foundations of the parties represented in the German Bundestag (which contribute to cultural dialogue through their political education activities); numerous churches and church institutions; the German federal states, districts and municipalities (especially through the 100 or so town-twinning arrangements); and numerous private foundations (including Bertelsmann, Bosch, Bucerius, Springer, Thyssen and Volkswagen). Beginning with the academic year 2007/08, the two DAAD-funded German Studies Centres at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Haifa commenced operation.
German instruction is not integrated into the curricula of Israeli schools. As there has previously been no German School in Israel, a school association was founded in Jerusalem in summer 2009. One positive development is the fact that eight secondary schools participating in the partner school initiative are offering German as a foreign language.
The 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel was an important element of German cultural policy in 2008. Our cultural policy also seeks to convey an up-to-date picture of Germany and German-Jewish relations.
Other priorities of cultural and educational work include:
Establishing personal contacts through exchange programmes for young people, schoolchildren and teachers as well as exchanges for students, scientists and academics (with the help of a large number of scholarship programmes)
Cooperation with Yad Vashem
Promoting Germany as a place to study and pursue scientific research through university marketing and by building networks to maintain contact with former students, scholarship-holders and artists after completion of their projects and for the descendants of older generations of immigrants and new immigrants from Germany
Collaboration in the sciences and arts between a large number of universities and institutes
Scientific relations
The very high international standard of Israeli research provides a solid basis for close and extensive cooperation between Germany and Israel which, in the case of the Max Planck Society and the Weizmann Institute, dates back to the time before diplomatic relations were established. This led to the creation of the Minerva Society with the Minerva-Weizmann project programme now running as many as 80 individual projects, the 34 Minerva research centres at Israeli institutions of higher education and further measures such as junior project teams, long- and short-term scholarships for visiting academics as well as the Minerva Schools and Gentner Symposia on current research topics.
Another pillar of research cooperation is the inter-ministerial collaboration between the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Israeli Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport (MOST), dating back to 1973, in areas such as water, cancer and geo-research and – since 2000 – with the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour (MOITAL) to jointly promote application-oriented research in the areas of biotechnology, optical and nanotechnology. Cooperation between all three ministries on civil security research has commenced; initial joint projects are to be selected shortly and launched in early 2010.
Since 1997, the BMBF has been funding regional projects involving researchers from Germany, Israel, the Palestinian Autonomy Authority and Jordan in the areas of environmental and climate research as well as sustainable water management.
Other priority programmes are the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), which was founded in 1986 and has so far financed some 850 projects from its present endowment of EUR 211 million, and the German-Israeli Project Cooperation Programme (DIP), which was set up in 1998 with annual funding of over EUR 4 million from the BMBF and is now being run by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Since the mid-1960s, the DFG itself has been supporting cooperation with 100 ongoing projects. Trilateral projects involving Palestinian universities and researchers have also been conducted since 1995.
Over the past decades, a close-knit network of cooperation agreements has been forged between institutions of higher education in both countries for joint research projects and academic exchange. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation alone has so far awarded more than 200 research scholarships and prizes to Israeli researchers. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has been engaged in bilateral scientific exchange since 1960 and assists about 140 Israelis a year.
The successful economic relations between the two countries are also reflected in Israel’s participation in the EU’s Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development: Israeli and German researchers are working together in around two-thirds of all EU projects with Israeli participation. 2008 was designated the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology by the two countries’ research ministries. With over 70 events in both countries, the setting up of a new Minerva Center for the Humanities and the Martin Buber Society at the Hebrew University for young humanities scholars from the two countries as well as a new ARCHES award for young research teams, new cooperation has been initiated with the increasingly strong involvement of young scientists and academics.
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
Since the conclusion of the Luxembourg Agreement of 1952 (payment of some EUR 1.53 billion), compensation has been a major political issue in relations between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany. At the end of 2007, German compensation payments to victims of National Socialist persecution now living in Israel totalled approximately EUR 26.7 billion. About EUR 424 million is paid out annually in compensation pensions (largely under the Federal Compensation Act) and related payments to recipients in Israel. On top of this are substantial compensation payments for social security and the equalization of burdens. Following the establishment of the foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future in 2000, compensation was also paid from its funds to former victims of forced labour. Individual compensation payments under the foundation law were concluded by law as of 31 December 2006.
In line with the latest rulings by the Federal Social Court, eligibility requirements for the payment of so-called ghetto pensions have been markedly lowered. This may mean that former victims of National Socialist persecution who worked in a ghetto are now eligible to receive a German pension or higher German pension.
Israeli interests in compensation and restitution are also represented by the Jewish Claims Conference (JCC). The JCC disburses one-off payments and monthly pensions to hardship cases who are not eligible for compensation under the Federal Compensation Act.
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem, the central Israeli memorial for the victims of the Holocaust erected on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, was founded to commemorate the six million Jews murdered during the Shoah. Translated literally from the Hebrew, yad vashem means “a memorial and a name” and stems from the Book of Isiah 56:5: “And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial … an everlasting name (yad vashem) …” Yad Vashem was founded in pursuance of a law adopted by the Knesset on 18 May 1953 and erected in 1957. The tasks of the memorial and attached centre are to preserve the memory of the victims, document the history of the Jews in the Holocaust, conduct research, issue publications and educate the public.
Since 1996, Yad Vashem has been cooperating with Germany in research, in combating antisemitism and in further training. A German Freundeskreis Committee chaired by Rita Süßmuth cooperates in a variety of ways with the Remembrance Authority.
On 15 March 2005, the New Museum, designed by Moshe Safdies, was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by Germany’s Federal Foreign Minister. The law of 1953 also stipulates that Yad Vashem shall honour the Righteous Among the Nations, the gentiles who risked their lives during the Shoah to save Jews. The title stems from a passage in the Talmud: “The righteous amongst the nations have a share in the Life to come.” Yad Vashem currently honours over 410 Germans.
