For decades, Germany has stood squarely in Israel\u2019s corner, its dark history of Jewish persecution shaping its modern-day policy of virtually unquestioned backing. <\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the Hamas October 7, 2023, attacks, the question of German political and military support for Israel was raised \u2013 and reaffirmed by then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz. <\/p>\n
But comments by new Chancellor Friedrich Merz in recent days have put Germany\u2019s support for Israel under the spotlight. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are dismayed by the fate of the civilian population and the terrible suffering of the civilian population\u201d in Gaza, the chancellor said on Tuesday while on a visit to Turku, Finland. <\/p>\n
The question of what provoked Merz\u2019s sharp change in tone toward Israel remains unclear. Peter Lintl, an analyst from the German Institute of International and Security Affairs who focuses on German-Israeli relations, believes Merz wanted to get into office, start conversations with Israeli leaders and get an understanding of the direction of travel before outlining his stance. <\/p>\n
Merz followed his Tuesday comments by questioning the current actions of the Israel Defense Forces inside Gaza. <\/p>\n
Referring to Israel\u2019s expanded operations and the humanitarian crisis in the territory, the German chancellor said that he \u201cno longer sees any logic as to how they serve the goal of fighting terror and freeing the hostages. In this respect, I take a very, very critical view of what has happened in the last few days.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s language came hot on the heels of a thinly veiled threat from Merz in Berlin on Monday. \u201cThe Israeli government must not do anything that its best friends are no longer prepared to accept,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Merz has also done the previously unthinkable and questioned whether Israel may be violating international law. <\/p>\n
The change of tone is particularly striking because of Germany\u2019s long-standing stance on Israel, that is connected to a theory known as \u201cstaatsraison\u201d <\/em>or national interest. <\/p>\n The connection of staatsraison and Israel were made by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2008. <\/p>\n She told the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, that the \u201chistorical responsibility of Germany is part of my country\u2019s national interest (staatsraison). This means that, for me as German chancellor, Israel\u2019s security is never negotiable.\u201d <\/p>\n Similar words were also used by Scholz in the wake of the October 7 attacks in which Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped some 250 others. <\/p>\n Since Merkel\u2019s speech, and particularly after she stepped down as chancellor in 2021, \u201cthe term got a life of its own,\u201d the analyst Lintl says. <\/p>\n \u201cIt appeared that if you want to be a respected politician, you have to use the term because it came to signal \u2026 that Israel\u2019s security is German staatsraison. <\/em>It <\/em>is the minimum threshold we use to distance ourselves from the past,\u201d Lintl says. <\/p>\n That \u201cpast\u201d refers largely to the Holocaust in which the Nazis killed more than 6 million Jews. <\/p>\n In Finland on Tuesday, Merz was quick to reiterate he is not abandoning staatsraison <\/em>entirely. \u201c<\/em>Israel\u2019s security and existence are, as we have been saying for many years and decades, part of our German staatsraison,\u201d but he has clearly set out to clarify it. <\/p>\n Lintl added: \u201cWe didn\u2019t know how this government will conduct itself, or how this government policy toward Israel will look \u2013 right now we have more of an idea.\u201d <\/p>\n It remains unclear if Merz and Germany\u2019s relationship with Israel will shift significantly. <\/p>\n Merz has maintained he will continue to talk with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Merz has also said he would find \u201cways and means\u201d for Israel\u2019s prime minister to visit Germany given the ICC (International Criminal Court) arrest warrant out for him. <\/p>\n For now, the statements from Israel seem muted, and respectful. <\/p>\n The Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor told German TV Tuesday morning, \u201cwhen somebody criticizes Israel, and when Friedrich Merz makes this criticism, we listen very carefully because he is a friend.\u201d <\/p>\n Inke Kappler contributed reporting.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For decades, Germany has stood squarely in Israel\u2019s corner, its dark history of Jewish persecution shaping its modern-day policy of virtually unquestioned backing. In the aftermath of the Hamas October 7, 2023, attacks, the question of German political and military support for Israel was raised \u2013 and reaffirmed by then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But comments by <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}