By DOVID BEN-MEIR
The oldsters in the synagogue where I grew up as a little kid all spoke English with a heavy East European accent and some had numbers on their arms. They would say that within every good German there was a little Nazi struggling to break free from moral conventions and take over.Personally, I don't think that's true when speaking of individuals; I don't hold every individual German (or one of the other many European nationalities who contributed to the Holocaust) personally responsible for Germany's crimes. However, in contrast to individual people, I do hold the German people as a nation responsible for the Holocaust, even today, and I do believe that inside the German nationality lurks the Nazi mentality, especially in regards to the Jewish state.This is how I understand the incident that happened a short while ago when Germany's foreign minister decided he would rather meet with NGOs like "Breaking the Silence" that are dedicated to libeling Israel in the international ring, rather than meet with the prime minister of Israel. Organizations like "Breaking the Silence" have no resonance in Israeli society and almost zero backers, but are considerably funded by the German government. On the one hand Germany sells submarines to Israel; after all it's good business. On the hand Germany funds organizations that strive to delegitimize Israel, making it more palatable to the West (especially those ignorant of the facts) to accept the double standard against Israel and even question the Jewish state's right to exist. So the German foreign minister came to check up on his investments in anti-Israeli NGOs.Let's break the lie of "Breaking the Silence". This foreign agent, funded mostly by foreign governments, claims to break the silence around the Israeli army's crimes in Gaza, Judea and Samaria (aka "West Bank"). They claim to be Israeli patriots seeking only that the IDF maintain a level of legality and morality.This is a distortion of the truth meant for gullible ears. Here's why:"Breaking the Silence" implies there is a wall of silence in Israel which inhibits soldiers from reporting crimes committed by the army against defenseless Arabs. This 'wall of silence' is non-existent; it's an outright lie, as anyone familiar with Israeli society knows. If a soldier witnessed something he or she think is criminal or immoral, the first step is to speak with the immediate commander. If that won't help, or if the complaint is against that commander, one can always ask for a meeting with the platoon leader or the company commander. If that doesn't work one can always call the justice branch of the Israeli military. And – as everyone in Israel knows – if all that isn't possible or doesn't do the trick, it's always possible to turn to someone in the Israeli press, which is often the address to which soldiers turn to in order to tell of their grievances, which then find their way into the media. If they talk about an alleged crime or immorality on the radio you can be sure that an official investigation will soon open and be closely followed by the media. Especially today, with the venues of social media on the internet, there is no possibility of keeping a wall of silence around alleged crimes or immoral acts perpetrated by the IDF.Those individual soldiers who allegedly speak to "Breaking the Silence" are erroneously referred to as 'heroes' because of their supposed 'bravery' for speaking out. That's just plain nonsense: since there is no bravery required of a person to blow the whistle on actual illegitimate behavior, as I've already explained. However – more than that, there is no bravery and no truth involved because all of the so-called "testimonies" that "Breaking the Silence" supposedly quotes from are anonymous. This anonymity guarantees that nothing positive can be achieved: no investigation, no questioning of witnesses or cross-examination, and therefore justice cannot be pursued. Nothing can be verified or disproved by objective investigators! This anonymity cries out that the only goal of this NGO is to libel Israel and the Israeli army; it represents the pursuit of the modern anti-Semitic "blood libel", no more and no less.So, Mr. Foreign Minister of Germany, they say that your father was an ardent Nazi. And you?