Scholz denies halting German arms exports to Israel, pledges weapons

Scholz denies halting German arms exports to Israel, pledges weapons
by AFP Staff Writers
Berlin (AFP) Oct 10, 2024

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected claims Thursday that Berlin had imposed a de facto stop on arms exports to Israel and said more defence goods would be sent soon.

The pledge put him at odds with France, where President Emmanuel Macron last week suggested an embargo on weapons for use in Gaza, sparking a sharp rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Scholz told the German parliament that "we have not decided to stop delivering weapons. We have delivered weapons and we will deliver weapons."

The government had taken steps "that ensure that there will be further deliveries soon," Scholz added, without specifying what equipment would be sent.

Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz had charged, during a parliamentary session on Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, that the German government had for months failed to approve any new arms deliveries to Israel.

Germany has long sought to atone for the Holocaust by pledging steadfast support for Israel but the relationship has come under strain since the October 7 attack sparked the devastating Gaza war.

Berlin has repeatedly joined other Western governments in calling for ceasefires in Gaza and in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Hamas' ally Hezbollah.

Merz -- the CDU party's candidate who hopes to topple Scholz in elections next September -- alleged there were "cracks in Germany's solidarity" with Israel.

For months "the government has been refusing to grant export permits for the delivery of ammunition and even for the delivery of spare parts for tanks to Israel," he charged.

The parliamentary group leader of Scholz's SPD party, Rolf Muetzenich, insisted Berlin was supporting Israel with weapons as well as humanitarian and financial aid.

He added that the use of defence exports must "comply with international humanitarian law".

German far-left opposition politician Sahra Wagenknecht sharply criticised German weapons deliveries to Israel, saying they are "aiding and abetting war crimes".

"Israel has the right to protect itself and its citizens," she told the Rheinische Post daily. "But Israel does not have the law on its side when it razes Gaza to the ground and buries its inhabitants under rubble and ash with unbridled ruthlessness."

She added that "this brutality is being repeated in Lebanon. Israel's government, which is partly made up of right-wing radicals, is threatening to plunge an entire region into the abyss. There must be no weapons from Germany for this."