During a visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Berlin, Johann Wadephul also said that recognizing a Palestinian state now would send “the wrong signal,” adding that negotiations between Israel and Palestine must conclude before a Palestinian state is recognized.

The German minister criticized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and renewed his call ‘’to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza without restrictions as required by international law.”

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that the European Union should maintain its Association Agreement that governs political and economic ties with Israel since 2000 as the European Commission is currently busy reviewing it due to the situation in Gaza.

He spoke Thursday at a press conference in Berlin alongside visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

Wadephul also said that recognizing a Palestinian state now would send “the wrong signal,” adding that negotiations between Israel and Palestine must conclude before a Palestinian state is recognized.

Spain, Ireland and Norway a year ago recognised a Palestinian state and French President Emmanuel Macron  said France could do so during a June conference at the United Nations this month. France has been pushing European countries including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium to join his initiative.

The German minister also criticized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and renewed his call ‘’to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza without restrictions as required by international law.” Saar appealed to Germany to give a chance to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to distribute humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.

“This effort has the potential to free the Palestinian population from Hamas’s stranglehold and end this war,” Saar said, adding that this type of distribution could prevent Hamas from appropriating the aid.

Wadephul deplored the Israeli government’s announcement that it would allow 22 more Jewish communities in the West Bank, saying it threatened the two-state solution further.

“Even as friends, we cannot ignore this,” Wadephul said. “We reject this, because the settlement policy in this form is contrary to international law. It literally obstructs the two-state solution — and that is the solution that we as the German government continue to stand for.”

The German minister, who visited Israel three weeks ago for his first trip abroad since his nomination, stressed that Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas and other enemies, and that “therefore Germany will of course continue to support Israel with arms deliveries, that was never in doubt.”

He mentioned that the new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who is currently in Washington for a meeting with U.S. President Donal Trump, plans to visit Israel later this year.

During the press conference, Sa’ar defended the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. “Only Hamas is responsible for the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. He added that “Israel is serious in our will and our intent to achieve a deal.”

However, Sa’ar added, “pressure on Israel, attacks threatening Israel with sanctions as some of other European countries are doing will not only not help this effort, but it will cause Hamas to harden its stance.”

On X, Saa’r wrote:

I thank my friend German FM @JoWadephul  for his warm hospitality and for the good discussions in Berlin today. We discussed a wide range of issues – global, regional, European and bilateral. Germany is a close, strategic ally of Israel and we will continue strengthening this friendship!

Earlier, the two ministers visited Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, where Sa’ar denounced  antisemitism in Europe and defended Israel’s right to self-defense.

He warned that Europe—and Germany in particular—has failed to internalize the lessons of the Holocaust, as antisemitic incidents surge and international criticism of Israel intensifies.

“With a heavy heart, I say that the lesson seems to have been forgotten. Antisemitism is raging today unchecked—especially on European soil,’’ the Israeli minister said.

He cited German government data showing 8,600 antisemitic incidents in 2024, which marks a 77% increase from the previous year.

“Jewish people are afraid,” he said. “They are afraid to wear a kippah. They don’t feel safe in public. This cannot be normalized,’’ he added, emphasizing that antisemitism now comes from multiple ideological sources, far-right extremists, leftist elites and radical Islamists.

He accused left-wing critics of portraying Israeli sovereignty as “a colonial phenomenon” while ignoring human rights violations across the Middle East. “They always want to shame the only democracy in the Middle East,” he said, adding that in Israel, Arabs “fully enjoy human and civil rights.”

Turning to the war against Hamas in Gaza and wider regional threats, Sa’ar said the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks constituted the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

“The only difference between Hamas and the Nazis was their capabilities,” the minister declared, warning that Israel is now under assault on several fronts: from Hezbollah, Iran, the Houthis and other Iranian-backed groups.

“The Hamas Charter openly calls for the murder of Jews,” he said. “And Iran’s leader continues to call for Israel’s elimination—just yesterday, in fact.”

Sa’ar accused Western powers of appeasement. “What is the international community doing? Normalizing Iran. Attacking Israel. Threatening sanctions. And offering the murderers the biggest prize: a terrorist state in our homeland.”