Before helping Germany fight terror, Israel has some questions to answer
Analysis: While Israeli security experts are offering their goods to their German colleagues, government officials in Berlin are wondering why Israel is failing to deal with the roots of its conflict with the Palestinians in order to restore Israelis' personal security.
BERLIN - "In the foreseeable future, people will no longer be able to enjoy a sense of security in the public domain in Europe, including in Germany. Nonetheless, Germany will pursue its effort to allow those seeking refuge in it to enter its borders, while maintaining a normal life according to the basic values we adopted after World War II."
This is a short summary of the talks I took part in recently between Israelis from our intelligence community and their colleagues in Germany.
The huge influx of refugees and migrants from the Middle East, who are trying to reach a safe harbor in the European Union - nearly a million people have tried to enter Germany alone in the past year - is rocking the physical infrastructure of many countries, and is mainly creating anxiety among the decision makers that radical Islamist elements will settle down in their "new homeland."
Moreover, the leadership is afraid that there are those among them who are planning to carry out terror attacks, sow fear and harm the civil society's way of life.
They are afraid. That was my response in light of the comments made by our interlocutors, who described the effort made by Germany's security services to try to locate terror suspects who, according to established information, are supposed to start an infrastructure for recruiting Muslims in Germany.
And as always, there is an Israeli angle to the new reality the Germans are forced to deal with. The less positive side has to do with experts in the field of preventing and dealing with terror attacks, graduates of special IDF and Shin Bet units, who are already flowing in and offering their goods to their colleagues in Germany. The keyword is "experience" - our experience in dealing with Palestinian terror.
If you're looking for some irony, I would ask these "experienced" people if they have indeed succeeded in eradicating terror in Israel. If they have been so successful, why are the terror attacks of the past few months forcing us, with the government's encouragement, to arm ourselves with personal weapons? In any event, the experts knocking on the German government's door should practice some modesty.
That reminds me that many years ago I flew to Zaire with the Defense Ministry's national security advisor, late Major-General Avraham (Avrasha Tamir). Tamir, who was getting ready for a meeting with President Mobutu, wrote a document titled "The threats on Zaire." What threats are you talking about? I asked Tamir. He replied that before offering someone help, you must first of all invent the threats they are facing.
In Germany's case, before raising proposals for exposing terror cells, the Israeli side must come up with convincing answers to the questions raised by senior officials in the German leadership in Berlin: Why aren’t you dealing with the roots of your conflict with the Palestinians? After all, your chance of restoring the Israelis' personal security will grow if you pursue a solution to the conflict while adopting the two-state formula. In other words, if you separate from the Palestinians.
Our side won't like to hear what is being said at the moment in utmost secrecy, that the lack of progress towards an agreement with the Palestinians is encouraging the radicals in the Muslim world to target Europe. "We don't want, as it seems right now, to remain the last European country to support you," a senior official in the Berlin government system said in a hesitant voice.
In other words, the message conveyed by the Germans is not so complicated: We are all tied to the same fate. Whoever wants to prevent the spread of terror originating in the Middle East must try to find a solution for reasonable coexistence between Israel and its neighbors. Otherwise, terror will continue to spill over to Europe, and not just because of the Islamic State's ambition to impose Islam on the world.
