Reparations and Restitution:

...The West German press reacted angrily and the West German Foreign Ministry issued a categorical denial...

...Reparations and restitution payments combined bring about $150 million annually to the Israeli treasury, covering close to half its annual balance of payments deficit and without which it would face serious economic crisis...

...And Goldmann, in turn, though his claims to represent Jewry are widely contested, was given a plenipotentiary's welcome...

...Now, times have changed and though the Israeli Government would welcome establishment of de jure relations, Bonn is reluctant for fear that the Arabs would react by recognizing East Germany...

...second, both are ruled by statesmen strong enough to overcome internal opposition and sentimentality where they consider it politically necessary...

...In recent years Ben Gurion's position and that of his party have grown stronger inside Israel, the extreme Left has lost ground, while Herut has failed to gain more than a sixth of the total vote and does not appear to be making serious headway...

...A subsequent German-Israeli arms deal for equipping Bonn's soldiers with Israeli submachine guns met no serious opposition...

...Details of the Ben Gurion-Adenauer talks were not disclosed, but shortly afterward Israel "leaked" a statement—through Israeli journalists in London and through the Jerusalem radio—to the effect that Adenauer had agreed, after reparations came to an end, to continue aid in the form of investments at the rate of $50 million a year for 10 years...

...Konrad Adenauer is not only motivated by a genuine desire to make amends for Hitler's crimes, but also finds David Ben Gurion's imprimatur —or certificate of purity—politically valuable...

...First, both Governments have something to gain from it...

...In Germany, the desire to maintain active good relations with Israel is bipartisan...

...The Federal Republic is one of Moscow's main cold war targets and is likely to remain so for some time...

...Israel needs NATO good will in order to be allowed to purchase arms, and German support is valuable here...

...Opposition has by no means been confined to the left-wing and fellow-traveling parties which work on the principle that what is good for the USSR is good for Israel...

...And there the matter rests...

...But by late 1957, when fellow-traveling parties provoked a cabinet crisis by opposing Ben Gurion's plans for purchasing defense equipment from Germany, the Premier was able to bring them to heel without too much difficulty...

...The maneuver was apparently intended to force Adenauer's hand, as well as to reassure Israelis, but it had exactly the opposite effect...

...Since the two states enjoy excellent de facto relations, however, the question is not likely to be pressed...

...There was a time when Bonn favored establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, but the Israelis held back because their public opinion was hostile...

...Ben Gurion's expressions of approval for Adenauer have gone a substantial way toward taking the edge off this propaganda...

...Given the prevailing climate of aid to backward countries and German prosperity, it seems likely that the Israelis will continue to receive German capital in one form or another after reparations cease...

...However, during the eight years which have elapsed since reparations discussions began, the majority of Israelis have come to accept the idea of German aid and opposition to it has brought decreasing political returns...

...Future economic relations have greater urgency...

...In our international welfare state climate, it is apparently more blessed to give than to receive and, as often happens, Ben Gurion has had to overcome more opposition in accepting aid than Adenauer had to in granting it...

...The immediate objectives of Heuss' visit—good will and a platform to present German political revindications—were less significant than the fact that he could make an official visit of that kind at all...

...Though some sections of the Christian Democratic party would certainly prefer to pay more heed to Arab views, the success of Adenauer's policy, together with pressure from the Social Democrats, would presumably keep them from any sharp change of policy, always assuming, of course, that no really drastic changes occur in Germany's internal situation or international orientation...

...It has been just as fierce, or even fiercer, from the non-socialist, nationalist party, Herut, from religious groups, from the opposition in general and from diaspora Jewry on what might best be described as sentimental grounds...

...German reparations are to end in the mid-1960s, by which time German restitution payments will have fallen off considerably as lump-sum payments come to an end and pensioners (of whom many are in the upper age-groups) die off or emigrate to Germany, where their money buys much more...

...Ben Gurion had great difficulty in pushing the original reparations deal through the Knesset...

...Adenauer's main objective is to prevent Arab recognition of the East German regime and he has endeavored to win Arab and African support by economic and technical aid, setting up technical schools and industrial enterprises, but he has refused to discuss Germany's relations with Israel...

...The fact that their accusation is basically untrue, and that if any regime were to be compared with Hitler's where treatment of Jews is concerned the USSR would best qualify, has not prevented their line from meeting considerable success among woolly minded Western liberals...

...Since public opinion as a whole has become reconciled to accepting German aid and making approving noises in return, it seems unlikely that, even in the event of fierce internal struggles inside Mapai after Ben Gurion's withdrawal from the scene, neither faction would be encouraged to adopt an anti-German line...

...This will happen at a time when increasing portions of Israel's $500 million foreign debt fall due for repayment...

...When the same parties created a pre-election crisis in 1959 over Ben Gurion's decision to sell munitions to West Germany, the election results more than justified him...

...moreover, Germany itself is capable of supplying certain specialized equipment to Israel...

...To win expressions of Israeli approval, the Federal Government has been willing to spend considerable sums of money...

...and Britain...

...Help to Israel has affected Bonn's relations with the Arab states less than might have been expected...

...The excellent relations between the Federal Republic and Israel have proved stable enough to resist both organized indignation by significant groups of Israelis and diaspora Jewry, and pressure from the Arab states, for two good reasons...

...Yet the sums are not large either in relation to Germany's capacity, or to international public relations expenditures generally...

...In addition to economic aid Ben Gurion has received other benefits from German friendship...

...The Russians have counted on winning considerable support from liberals and socialists by appealing to anti-Germanism and one of their tactics has been to depict the Federal Republic as a hotbed of neoNazism and anti-Semitism, using whatever incidents are at hand and manufacturing them where they are lacking...

...German-Israeli Relations REPARATIONS AND RESTITUTION By Alfred Sherman LONDON THE RECENT VISITS of West German ex-President Theodor Heuss to Israel and of Zionist leader Nahum Goldmann to Bonn exemplify one of the more exotic by-products of the cold war: German-Israeli relations...

...Both Ben Gurion and Adenauer appear likely to continue to have their way where foreign policy is concerned, but since both have already enjoyed more than their span of three score years and 10 the question naturally arises about what course Israeli-German relations are likely to take after they relinquish power...

...In view of the world political situation, however, the consensus of West German press, business and official personnel is that Bonn cannot afford to go too far in its pro-Israeli attitudes...

...In spite of violent Soviet and East German propaganda beamed to the Arab world denouncing Bonn for supporting Israel, Adenauer's firmness has been justified, since no Arab state has yet recognized East Germany...

...Indeed Israelis often hold up Adenauer's firmness as an example for the U.S...

...Ben Gurion's subsequent meeting with Adenauer was almost as well received in Israel as in Germany...

...In recent years Israel's heavy balance of payments deficit has not declined and even shows signs of growing...

...In addition to the reparations agreement, binding Germany to pay over $750 million to Israel and diaspora Jewish organizations, Adenauer inaugurated payment of restitution to individual victims of Nazism, a policy which brings over $70 million a year into Israeli foreign currency holdings...

...Israelis are naturally interested in ensuring continuation of the flow of funds from Germany in one form or another...