The gap between traditional elected officials like Merkel, and “Otto Normalverbraucher,” the German term for “John Q. Public,” is perplexing and disturbing. According to a 2004 study by the respected sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer, a majority of Germans (51 percent) believe that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians “is essentially no different from what the Nazis did to the Jews.” Similarly, a 2007 BBC poll revealed that 77 percent of the German population has a negative attitude toward Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964343.html
See also: German Scholar Row
http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s19&SecId=19&AId=58570&ATypeId=1