Germany is one of the closest European allies of Israel, and the leaders of this country, due to the Nazi past, consider Israel's safety to be Statsraesonor “raison d'etat”. German leaders, especially conservatives from the Merza party, are reluctant to openly criticize the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
However, Merz's comments suggest that his government's position may have changed in connection with the new Military offensive of Israel in the Gaza Strip, where, according to humanitarian organizations, many residents are threatened by hunger as a result of the blockade of humanitarian assistance supplies lasting for 11 weeks.
Merz said.
EPA / HAITAM ICHAD / PAP
A five-year-old Palestinian boy of Osama al-rab, suffering from serious malnutrition, at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, in the southern part of the Gaza Zone, May 26, 2025.
The German leader suggested that he would discuss the resumed offensive of Israel during the telephone conversation planned at the end of the week with the premiere of Israel Binjamin Netanyahu. “We are very interested in staying on the side of Israel” – added Merz. “But the Israeli government cannot do anything that his best friends are no longer ready to accept.”
Merz's statement appeared when a debate about the military support of the government for Israel is intensifying in Germany. Some deputies from the Centrolevic Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) – the younger coalition partner of Merza – call to stop exporting weapons to Israel. “The German weapon cannot be used to spread humanitarian disasters and violate international law,” said Adis Ahmetowice, spokesman for SPD for foreign policy in the Bundestag, in an interview with the German magazine “Stern”.
The German government commissioner for combating anti -Semitism Felix Klein also caused a debate in Germany, calling for “more sincere discussion” about how Germany interprets their own Statsraeson in relation to Israel.
“We must do everything in our power to ensure the safety of Israel and Jews around the world,” said Klein in an interview with the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. ” “However, we must clearly state that it does not justify everything. Starring Palestinians and deliberate deterioration of the humanitarian situation has nothing to do with the protection of Israel's right to exist. It can also not be German Raison d'état [fr. racja stanu]”.
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Catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip
So far, Germany has refrained from participating in the sharpest criticism of Israel among European leaders. At the beginning of this month, the heads of the government of Great Britain, France and Canada in a joint statement condemned “insurmountable” the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and called Israel to stop the new, intensified campaign.
“On October 7, Israel fell victim to a shameful attack. We have always supported Israel's law to defend the Israeli against terrorism. But this escalation is completely disproportionate” – wrote three leaders.
Netanyahu answered them sharply. “Demanding from Israel the end of the defensive war for our survival before the terrorists from Hamas on our border are destroyed, and demanding the creation of the Palestinian state, leader in London, Ottawa [sic] And Paris offer a huge award for a genocidal attack on Israel from October 7, encouraging them to be subsequent at least such atrocities, “he wrote in social media.
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