German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends the cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany on Sept 18. [Photo/Agencies]
Confusion reigns over the status of Germany supplying armaments to Israel after contradictory reports surfaced about whether deals will be put on hold.
The Reuters news agency quoted what it called "a source close to the Economy Ministry" as saying that, because of legal challenges, exports had been halted, but the Times of Israel then quoted another source at the same ministry as saying this had not happened, nor would it be happening.
Figures from the Economy Ministry, which approves export licenses, show that in 2023, 326.5 million euros ($363.5 million) of arms, including military equipment and war weapons, were exported from Germany to Israel, a figure that was 10 times that of the previous year.
However, so far in 2024 there has been a dramatic drop-off, with just 14.5 million euros' worth of arms being sent, and only a small amount of that being classified as weapons of war.
Following the Hamas attacks on Oct 7 that ignited the current conflict in Gaza, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Israel and pledged his government's solidarity with its government.
But on another visit, in March this year, at a joint appearance with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Scholz commented on how things have developed since the initial attack, and Israel's response, saying: "The more desperate the situation of the people in Gaza becomes, the more this begs the question: no matter how important the goal, can it justify such terribly high costs, or are there other ways to achieve your goal?
"Lasting security for future generations of Israeli people lies in a solution with the Palestinians, not against them. Terror cannot be defeated with military means alone."
The latest comments from the German government are that there is no export boycott of any kind, and that a blanket ban would not be deployed.
"In this individual case analysis, the current situation is always taken into account, including the attacks on Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the course of the operation in Gaza," a ministry spokesperson told the German Press Agency.
The United States remains by far Israel's biggest arms supplier and several countries in Europe have introduced restrictions of varying severity.
The Netherlands and United Kingdom have taken steps to limit exports. Earlier this year, Spain refused permission for a Danish-flagged ship carrying arms to Israel to dock at the southeastern port of Cartagena, AFP reported.
Such actions, said Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, "will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports."
"The Foreign Ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason: the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace," he said.
