important role in the future shaping of Europe, and beyond, falls to united Germany because of its size, population figures, economic power and geographical location at the heart of the continent.'
We are therefore no longer in the pre-1989 period, when Germany showed restraint and tact, for reasons that everybody could understand and even be thankful for. This very restraint caused successive German governments to take the lead in European integration, especially when it came to abandoning the mighty Deutschmark - and I say the mighty Deutschmark because it is 10 Marks and is the symbol of Germany's rebirth - in exchange for the euro, for the single currency.
These remarks, far from being nostalgic, are an appeal by one of Europe's activists, and are directed not only at Germany,One sign that BDS, the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, is working is the fact that several hard-core opponents of BDS have begun to put pressure on the Israeli government to declare a freeze on settlements outside the Israeli barrier inside the West Bank. They are talking about just a partial freeze on a 48-year project of colonization, but the pressure shows that even diehard supporters who ascribe BDS to anti-Semitism acknowledge that the Israeli occupation is aiding the international campaign to isolate the country.

The latest to support a settlement freeze is the center-right Israeli politician Yair Lapid. Lapid has described BDS as the devil-incarnate: he told a NY synagogue that BDS is being led by the same people who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.