Two top figures in German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government called Tuesday for Berlin to lift its restrictions on exporting weapons to Israel after this week’s peace deal.
Germany partially suspended arms exports to Israel in August, targeting weapons “clearly usable in Gaza,” and has not approved any new exports since then. But that should change now that Israel has halted its offensive, the two leaders of Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU parliamentary group said Tuesday.
Alexander Hoffmann, parliamentary group leader of the CSU, told reporters that sanctions against Israel should be lifted “immediately.” He was backed up by Jens Spahn, parliamentary group leader of the CDU, who said the “final decision” would be made by the Federal Security Council, a government committee advising on national security policy.
“And I am sure that it will then come to the conclusions that my colleague Hoffmann has just mentioned,” Spahn added.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a U.S.-brokered peace deal this week after two years of bloodshed, including the killing of over 60,000 Palestinians.
Germany, traditionally one of Israel’s staunchest allies, has taken a markedly sharper tone about the Israeli military’s offensive in recent months, but Merz has stopped short of committing Berlin to supporting the EU’s proposed sanctions.
Those include partially suspending the EU–Israel Association Agreement and sanctioning two far-right ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. But the measures could be altered or withdrawn as the situation in Gaza evolves, the European Commission hinted Monday, with the topic to be raised at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on Oct. 20.
Hans von der Burchard contributed to this report.
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