Yes, Germany supports Israel – but not uncritically, and not for the reasons you think | Joerg Lau

The hard right, the left and Turkey's autocratic leader are all peddling the myth of German guilt. The truth is more complex

Who could have anticipated such a twist in Germany's fraught relationship with its dark past? The German government is coming under increasing pressure to break free of the constraints of German guilt. And it is Turkey that wants the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to deliver the reversal.

On a visit to Germany earlier this month, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, standing next to Scholz in Berlin, claimed that Germany was too absorbed by historical remorse to grasp the reality of the Middle East. Before his arrival in Germany, Erdoan had called the Hamas terrorists freedom fighters" and said that Israel's legitimacy was in doubt due to its own fascism". Scholz had staunchly resisted calls to cancel the visit, but made clear before Erdoan's arrival that he considered the president's view of the conflict absurd".

Joerg Lau is an international correspondent for the German weekly Die Zeit

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