From Jerusalem to Berlin

David Bernstein

In 1989, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman published his best seller, From Beirut to

Jerusalem. A foreign correspondent initially based in the war-torn capital of Lebanon, Friedman chronicled how this once peaceful “Paris of the

Middle East” had come apart at the seams and descended into factional violence and chaos.

After spending nearly five years in Beirut, and in much need of a breather, Friedman moved to

Jerusalem, where he reported on the painful dilemmas facing a society divided along ideological, ethnic and religious lines.

The thesis of Friedman’s book was that Israelis “could end up like the Lebanese: arguing first in the parliament and then in the streets.” In other words,

Israel, too, might fall part.

Having just returned from an AJC national board mission to Israel and

Germany, I am more convinced than ever that Freidman, a commentator I greatly admire, overstated the risks of a social and political meltdown.

AJC’s visit to Israel coincided with the celebration of Israel’s 60th year of independence and explored the overlapping layers of Israel’s complex society and the seemingly inescapable conflict between

Israel and the Arab world. As has been noted before,

Israel is an imperfect country and very much a work in progress.

 

But the

Israel of today is not on the brink of disintegration. Far from it.

The country is currently experiencing economic growth in excess of six percent, which is lifting the standard of living of the entire society. It is a fertile seedbed of technological innovation, nurturing the seeds of a new generation of “green technology.” With, among other things, an electric car on the horizon,

Israel is poised to become a world leader in clean and renewable energy.

While Israeli democracy is notoriously unwieldy, there is now a serious effort underway to write a constitution. Even if a full-fledged constitution does not materialize in the near future, the exercise will likely bolster

Israel’s “Basic Laws,” the cornerstone of country’s liberal legal system.

Once dead in the water, electoral reform is also making a come back.

Israel is looking at the bifurcated German system (which would split the Knesset into a half national party ticket—the current system—and a half constituency–based system) in an effort to improve the responsiveness of government to communal needs.

During our visit to the Jewish state, we met with the impressive Nir Barkat, Jerusalem City Council member. The former high tech entrepreneur shared his vision for a better integrated and more economically vibrant “city of peace,” which would call upon the talents of Israeli Jews, religious and secular, as well as the city’s 250,000 Arab residents. Barkat hopes to increase the number of tourists by a factor of 10 in the next decade.

Two decades after the publication of “From Beirut Jerusalem,” Israeli society is not only fundamentally intact, but dynamic and thriving.

The AJC delegation then went on to Berlin, where we celebrated the 10th year of our flourishing

Berlin office. Ever since the mid-1950s, AJC has sought to build a bridge to a democratic Germany, recognizing then as now that the Jewish people and the Western world have a profound stake in the development of a peaceful, democratic and pluralistic modern Germany. Our

Berlin office has taken the partnership to the next level, creating unprecedented opportunities for exchange and cooperation.

While in Berlin, we celebrated Israel’s 60th, drawing a crowd of 350 from

Germany’s public, NGO and private sectors. Today, Germany and

Israel enjoy a warm and mutually beneficial relationship. This week Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting

Israel with eight of her Cabinet ministers in the highest level state visit in the history of the two countries.

Just 19 years after the fall of the Berlin wall, a united

Germany has its share of troubles. Like a number of other nations in Western Europe, Germany has fallen short in effectively integrating immigrants into a society that needs immigration for economic growth. Many of these immigrants come from Muslim countries, bringing with them a vastly different culture and world view.

If German society is going to continue to thrive, it will have to do a much better job in extending economic opportunity to these immigrants and in unapologetically promulgating the country’s democratic norms.

But I have faith in today’s Germany because, like its fellow democracy

Israel, it learns from its mistakes and grows stronger. A number of German officials with whom we met expressed an eagerness to learn from the

US and Israeli experiences, imperfect though they are, in integrating immigrants.

As in Israel, there is still much work to be done in

Germany. Neither country is about to fall apart. Both are ever striving to become better places for their own citizens and better citizens of the world.

David Bernstein is associate director of AJC’s Community Services Department.