Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, using the harshest public statements to date by a German senior official about the campaign to dismantle Hamas.
Merz, a leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union who became chancellor on May 6, said he “no longer understands” Israel’s goals in the Strip, speaking during the WDR Europaforum conference in Berlin.
Israel’s actions cannot be “justified,” he said.
“The Israeli government must not do anything that even its best friends are no longer willing to accept,” said Merz. “What the Israeli army is now doing in the Gaza Strip, I frankly no longer understand with what goal.
“To cause such suffering to the civilian population, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified by the fight against Hamas terrorism,” Merz said.
On May 19, the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada condemned what they called Israel’s “egregious” military actions in Gaza and warned that they would take “concrete actions” if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not change course, particularly regarding humanitarian aid.
At the request of the Netherlands, the European Commission began last week reviewing the E.U.-Israel Association Agreement, which regulates bilateral trade. Germany under former Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democratic Party expressed reservations about Israel’s actions in Gaza, but not as explicitly as Merz.
Germany will be a key state in the review of the Association Agreement, according to Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Europe department and a seasoned observer of E.U. working processes.
Any change to the agreement would probably require a qualified majority, meaning support of 55% of the member states including those representing 65% of the population of the E.U., she told JNS last week.
“It will come down to the big countries: Germany is key, Italy is key,” Rodan-Benzaquen said.
Israel has vowed to dismantle Hamas in Gaza following the Islamist group’s invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, when Gazan terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and abducted another 251. Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 terrorists in Gaza. According to disputed figures by the Hamas-run health ministry there, about 50,000 people have died and the population is in need of humanitarian aid.
Several lawmakers from Scholz’s party, which is a member of the governing coalition led by Merz, have criticized Israel in recent days and at least one, Isabel Cademartori, called for Germany to impose an arms embargo on Israel.
Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and several other countries have already limited or halted arms shipments to Israel.
On Friday, Netanyahu accused Israel’s critics of being on the “wrong side of history” and siding with Hamas.
“When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice, you’re on the wrong side of humanity and you’re on the wrong side of history,” he said, referencing Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer and Mark Carney, the leaders of France, the U.K. and Canada respectively.
