His statement comes as Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is visiting Berlin for talks aimed at securing continued Germany’s support for Israel in the wake of the EU’s decision to review its Association Agreement with Jerusalem.
As Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar visits Berlin on Thursday for high-level meetings with key German officials, in order to keep Germany’s support in the wake of an EU review of its Association Agreement with Israel following the Israeli military operation in Gaza, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that “Germany will continue to support the State of Israel, including with arms deliveries.’’
His statement made to lawmakers in parliament on Wednesday, is considered as a reversal of recent comments on the issue.
Wadephul, a member of the ruling center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who visited Israel last month on his first trip outside Europe since his appointment as Germany’s new Foreign Minister, warned last week that his country may be forced to take “further steps” if Jerusalem continues to pursue its goal of destroying Hamas in Gaza.
“Our full support for the right to exist and the security of the State of Israel must not be instrumentalized for the conflict and the warfare currently being waged in the Gaza Strip,” Wadephul told reporters, and following the harshest condemnations yet by Berlin of Israel’s war actions in Gaza.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz himself last week criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, using the harshest public statements to date by a German senior official about the Israeli campaign to dismantle Hamas. Germany is considered as one of Israel’s main advocates in the European Union.
He said he “no longer understands” Israel’s goals in Gaza. ‘’Israel’s actions cannot be justified,’’ he added.
“The Israeli government must not do anything that even its best friends are no longer willing to accept,” said Merz. He continued, ‘’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 is meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House in Washington on Thursday.
During his short visit in Berlin, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is to meet his German counterpart as well as Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Education Minister Karin Prien, Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder and chairman of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee Armin Laschet.
In the morning, Wadephul and Sa’ar laid a wreath at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial, which commemorates the murder and persecution of Jews in Europe under Germany’s Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945.
The Israeli minister will also meet leaders of the Jewish community.
In the wake of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the Strip, a majority of 17 EU member states out of 27 agreed last month, following a demand by the Netherlands, to ask the European Commission to review whether Israel continues to comply with Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Article, which evokes respect for human rights.
The 17 member states who backed a review are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden.
9 voted against : Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus and Lithuania, while Latvia abstained.
It is now up to the EU executive to produce a report and options for eventual measures against Jerusalem. Countries like Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium are calling for sanctions. EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said last week that she hopes to be able to present “options” to EU Foreign Ministers at their meeting on June 23. Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein rejected the EU decision, saying it reflected “a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing”.
According to Euronews, Israel will join a high-profile meeting in Brussels, also on June 23, with EU’s southern neigbours, despite the cooling of EU-Israel relations.
“The objective is for Israeli representatives to be present at the meeting,” a senior Israeli official told Euronews, adding that the participation of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, “is still to be confirmed”.