German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has issued a rare public rebuke of Israel, saying he felt compelled to speak out because “international humanitarian law is really being violated” in Gaza.
The comments come as the Israeli army is expanding its fighting in Gaza in order to, it says, take control of the vast majority of the Palestinian enclave where it has been at war since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Aid groups say that the territory’s 2 million residents are facing starvation, after Israel blocked the entry of humanitarian assistance for two months. Aid is now beginning to be distributed under a contentious U.S.-Israeli mechanism.
“What the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip, I no longer understand, frankly, what its objective is. To cause such suffering to the civilian population, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,” Merz said during an appearance in Finland. “When lines are crossed where international humanitarian law is now really being violated, the German chancellor must also say something about it.”
The comments are especially dramatic given Germany’s relationship as one of Israel’s staunchest allies. In the wake of the Holocaust, which Germany perpetrated, the country adopted a doctrine called Staatsräson, or “reason of state,” under which Germany has concluded it is imperative to defend Israel.
The remarks, and those by the German foreign minister saying “we have to think very carefully about what further steps to take” regarding the situation, come days after Canada, France and the United Kingdom issued a joint condemnation of Israel’s expansion of the war in Gazav that also threatened “concrete” consequences.
Unlike the leaders of those countries, Merz is a political conservative. In February, before and after he was elected, he vowed to defy the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Netanyahu were to visit Germany.
“I am also not among those who said it first,” Merz said about Gaza, adding, “But it seemed and seems to me that the time has come when I must say publicly: What is currently happening is no longer comprehensible.”
His foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, rejected a call for an arms embargo during an appearance in Spain but said he was seeking to address Germany’s concerns with Israel.
Emphasizing that Germany could not permit policies of expulsion and starvation, which some Israeli politicians have said they support, he said, “Nobody is saying that the current situation is acceptable and can be tolerated any longer. Not even Germany.”
The right-wing leader of the other country with which Israel has had a special relationship, the United States, has also moved his opposition to the war into public view in recent days. U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this month said “a lot of people are starving” in Gaza, said on Sunday that his administration had spoken with Israel in an effort to “stop this whole situation as quickly as possible,” the latest of multiple times in recent weeks when he has called for the war to end.
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