{"id":13297,"date":"2024-03-30T05:52:57","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T05:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/30\/a-loyal-israel-ally-germany-shifts-tone-as-the-toll-in-gaza-mounts\/"},"modified":"2024-03-30T05:52:57","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T05:52:57","slug":"a-loyal-israel-ally-germany-shifts-tone-as-the-toll-in-gaza-mounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/30\/a-loyal-israel-ally-germany-shifts-tone-as-the-toll-in-gaza-mounts\/","title":{"rendered":"A Loyal Israel Ally, Germany Shifts Tone as the Toll in Gaza Mounts"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/29\/multimedia\/29germany-israel-01-vqtz\/29germany-israel-01-vqtz-facebookJumbo-v3.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Loyal Israel Ally, Germany Shifts Tone as the Toll in Gaza Mounts\" title=\"A Loyal Israel Ally, Germany Shifts Tone as the Toll in Gaza Mounts\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Days after Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Germany\u2019s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was one of the first Western leaders to arrive in Tel Aviv. Standing beside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, he declared that Germany had \u201conly one place \u2014 and it is alongside Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That place now feels increasingly awkward for Germany, Israel\u2019s second-largest arms <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sipri.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2024-03\/fs_2403_at_2023.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">supplier<\/a> and a nation whose leadership calls support for the country a \u201cStaatsr\u00e4son,\u201d a national reason for existence, as a way of atoning for the Holocaust.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last week, with Israel\u2019s deadly offensive continuing in Gaza, the chancellor again stood next to Mr. Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, and struck a different tone. \u201cNo matter how important the goal,\u201d he asked, \u201ccan it justify such terribly high costs?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With international outrage growing over a death toll that Gazan health authorities say exceeds 32,000, and the looming prospect of famine in the enclave, German officials have begun to question whether their country\u2019s support has gone too far.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhat changed for Germany is that it\u2019s untenable, this unconditional support for Israel,\u201d said Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin. \u201cIn sticking to this notion of Staatsr\u00e4son, they gave the false impression that Germany actually offered carte blanche to Netanyahu.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Berlin\u2019s hardening tone is partly a response to fears over Israel\u2019s continued insistence that it must enter Rafah in order to pursue Hamas operatives it says are in the southern Gazan city. The change in stance also tracks with the evolving position of Germany\u2019s most important ally, the United States, which has shown increasing displeasure with Israel\u2019s actions, including through an abstention in a U.N. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/25\/world\/middleeast\/un-security-council-gaza-ceasefire.html\" title=\"\">Security Council vote<\/a> that allowed a cease-fire resolution to pass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The change in the German stance has made itself felt in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In January \u2014 just months after the Hamas-led attacks that Israeli officials say killed some 1,200 people \u2014 Germany intervened in defense of Israel against South Africa\u2019s charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice. It cited Germany\u2019s history to position itself as a kind of moral authority when it came to backing the convention against genocide and defended Israel against growing criticisms of its handling of the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As recently as last month, Mr. Scholz resisted answering questions at the Munich Security Conference about whether Israel had violated international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But this week, Germany\u2019s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said she would be sending a delegation to Israel because as a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, her country \u201cis obliged to remind all parties of their duty to abide by international humanitarian law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During a visit to the region, her sixth since the attack, Ms. Baerbock also described the situation in Gaza as \u201chell\u201d and insisted that a major offensive on Rafah, where more than a million people have sought shelter, must not happen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPeople cannot vanish into thin air,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel\u2019s foreign minister, Israel Katz, responded to Ms. Baerbock\u2019s criticisms in a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Israel_katz\/status\/1771912369498718609?s=20\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a> on social media, saying, \u201cWe expect our friends to continue supporting Israel during these challenging times and not weaken it against the terrorist organization Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Berlin, like Washington, has tried to position itself as a concerned friend, intent on ensuring Israel\u2019s long-term security by not allowing it to go so far that it loses even more international backing. But the stakes are high for Germany, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The country needs to maintain friendly relations around the world to pursue its own interests, whether Europe is cutting deals with Egypt to curb migration or seeking support for measures to back Ukraine against Russia. Foreign-policy experts say that by hewing to its strong support of Israel, Germany has also undermined its ability to credibly criticize authoritarian governments like that of Russia\u2019s Vladimir V. Putin for human rights violations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The sense of diminishing credibility on human rights is particularly strong in the set of developing or underdeveloped countries sometimes referred to as the Global South, a point brought home during a visit to Berlin this month by Malaysia\u2019s prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe oppose colonialism, or apartheid, or ethnic cleansing, or dispossession of any country, be it in Ukraine, or in Gaza,\u201d Mr. Anwar told journalists as he stood beside Mr. Scholz. \u201cWhere have we thrown our humanity? Why this hypocrisy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Until recently, German public opinion seemed firmly behind the government\u2019s support of Israel\u2019s military campaign. But polls by public broadcasters in recent weeks show that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zdf.de\/nachrichten\/politik\/politbarometer-gaza-israel-ukraine-usa-cannabis-100.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">nearly 70 percent<\/a> of Germans surveyed felt Israel\u2019s military actions were not justifiable; just a few weeks earlier, the number was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rnd.de\/politik\/ard-deutschlandtrend-der-haelfte-der-deutschen-geht-israels-vorgehen-in-gaza-zu-weit-NBGRU2K5VJNHVL2WLMDTFQK64I.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">around 50 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The matter has become inescapable for Mr. Scholz even in town-hall sessions with voters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI find Germany\u2019s foreign policy contradictory, and even hypocritical,\u201d one woman told Mr. Scholz in the town of Brandenburg an der Havel, outside Berlin, earlier this week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On the one hand, she said, Germany was calling on Israel not to invade Rafah. On the other, Germany remained one of Israel\u2019s biggest arms suppliers. \u201cWe have to really do something to protect these people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Berlin\u2019s toughened stance over the war is unlikely to indicate any broader turn against Israel. This week, the Interior Ministry said it would include questions about Israel in an updated citizenship test, a reflection of how strongly Germany sees support of Israel as part of its own identity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And beyond a change in tone, there is little Berlin is likely to do that is not symbolic, policymakers say, unless Washington takes tougher measures. In a written reply to a question from a lawmaker, Sevim Dagdelen, on whether Germany would stop arms deliveries, the government said it would consider them on a \u201ccase by case\u201d basis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The most important decision it could make, said J\u00fcrgen Hardt, the foreign policy spokesman for the center-right Christian Democrats in the Parliament, was to restore funding to the main U.N. agency aiding Palestinians, UNRWA. In the wake of allegations that some of the agency\u2019s employees participated in the Oct. 7 attack or its aftermath, Germany said it would suspend the funding. (U.N. officials said they had fired 10 of the 12 employees initially accused and had ordered an investigation into the agency, while imploring nations that suspended aid payments to reconsider.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, Germany appears to be changing its position. This week, Germany said it would again fund the agency in the areas where it operates outside Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Weeks earlier, German diplomats sought the removal of the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, as a precondition to restore funding, according to German and European Union officials familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the same officials said they had observed a marked softening of Germany\u2019s stance since then, and that the Germans appeared to have abandoned the request that Mr. Lazzarini be replaced. E.U. and German officials said Germany was likely to release funding for Gaza operations by May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat could be one small action,\u201d Mr. Benner, the foreign policy analyst, said. \u201cBut I think the damage is already done in terms of German credibility. Now, it\u2019s a mission of damage control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Matina Stevis-Gridneff<!-- --> contributed reporting from Brussels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Days after Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Germany\u2019s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was one of the first Western leaders to arrive in Tel Aviv. Standing beside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, he declared that Germany had \u201conly one place \u2014 and it is alongside Israel.\u201d That place now feels increasingly awkward for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/29\/multimedia\/29germany-israel-01-vqtz\/29germany-israel-01-vqtz-facebookJumbo-v3.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[143,43,4791,38,18737,18739,15936,11469,18738],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13299,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13297\/revisions\/13299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}