Is Germany’s Stance on Israel Shifting?

Germany’s Support for Israel Cannot Be Conditional on Popular Opinion

Since Hamas’s brutal October 7th attacks, in which over 1,200 Israelis were massacred and hostages – including eight German citizens – were taken, Germany had presented itself as one of Israel’s staunchest allies. Germany’s “unconditional support” for the Jewish state is underpinned by a strong military and strategic relationship.

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But this support appears to be shaken now. A couple of weeks ago, Chancellor Merz expressed his clear dislike of the way Israel is currently conducting the war in Gaza and Foreign Minister Wadephul reiterated that Germany cannot be pressed to a situation where it needs to show “forced solidarity” with Israel. His remarks suggest that German support may stem more from a sense of historical responsibility than from a place of genuine strategic or moral alignment with the complexities Israel is facing. There seems to be little effort from German, or broader EU leadership to engage with the unprecedented challenges of this war: fighting a terror group embedded within civilian areas, minimizing civilian casualties, and securing the release of hostages. Criticism is being voiced, but concrete, viable alternatives on how to achieve these goals more effectively remain absent.

Why the shift? Is it pressure from a large migrant population, many of whom hold strong anti-Israel views? Is it the sway of so-called humanitarian voices who have distorted the facts on the ground? Or is it media and academic elites who shape German public discourse on Israel?

Israel is a sovereign democracy fighting a genocidal terrorist organization that continues to hold hostages. Yet Germany’s discourse is increasingly shaped by the narrative that support for Israel is something to be apologized for. One can undoubtedly criticize Israeli Government’s policies, just as Israelis themselves do. But when the criticism disproportionately targets Israel while giving Hamas and their backers an almost free pass, it is not balanced – it is biased. Where is the consistent German outrage about the war crimes committed by Hamas? Where is the pressure on them to release hostages? Why does the narrative ignore the fact that Israel evacuated every Jew from there in 2005, only to receive rockets in return? Why is the presence of Jews in Judea and Samaria described as “provocative,” while the expulsion of Jews from Gaza is not even remembered?

I’ve watched with unease as a small group of German politicians, institutions, and “Middle East experts” dominate the discourse on Israel. Seen as authoritative voices, they openly disdain PM Netanyahu and his ministers, using personal bias to justify sharp criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war. Some of them claim they can no longer support Israel because of settlement expansion in the West Bank or controversial statements by Israeli ministers about relocating Gazans. They regularly accuse Israel of breaking international law, yet fail to substantiate those claims. There is little room in the German discourse for the view that Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria may be a safeguard against ethnic cleansing of Jews.

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There is also hardly any outrage when Gazans are trapped in a war zone, while their relocation is framed as ethnic cleansing by Israel. Furthermore, Even more troubling is the silence when former Israeli leaders like Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert or Yair Golan take to global platforms to delegitimize their own country. These individuals are instead swiftly tokenized by Western media to validate anti-Israel narratives.

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As a naturalized German citizen of many years, I take pride in Germany’s constitutional values, its freedom, and its commitment to never again let antisemitism find fertile ground. But appeasement, wrapped in the language of humanitarian concern, is still appeasement. And the threat today is not just to Israel, but to Germany itself.

The same radical ideologies that aim to destroy Israel are gaining ground here. If left unchecked, they will erode the very freedoms that make Germany what it is. I don’t want my children to grow up in a country where Sharia law creeps in through the back door while political leaders look the other way in fear of offending loud minorities.

Germany must ask itself: does its support for Israel depend on how loud the anti-Israel voices have become? Or is it based on shared values – democracy, rule of law, freedom – and on the hard-learned lesson that appeasement of hatred leads to disaster?

This is not about left or right. It is about moral clarity. Germany must not falter in its support for Israel – not only because of the dark past, but also because of the future we all want to live in.