Merz announced on Friday that Germany is stopping exports to Israel of weapons that can be used in Gaza. But the decision was not anchored within Merz's own party CDU, or in the Bavarian sister party CSU.
According to Bild, the parties' joint foreign affairs group will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the issue on Sunday.
Trusts Israel
CDU's security policy spokesperson Roderich Kiesewetter writes on X that Merz made ”a major German political and strategic wrong decision”.
He continues:
”The credibility of our right to exist is measured precisely through security cooperation and the commitment to protect Jewish life and the state of Israel. (…) I trust that a friend like Israel uses its weapons in accordance with international law."
Several parliamentarians within both sister parties write similar words on social media, and Bavaria's head of government Markus Söder says according to Bild that he was not informed ”and therefore was surprised”.
This is, the newspaper notes, an absolute ”no go” for a government partner who is also a sister party.
CSU was not informed about the decision and we consider that regrettable, says Alexander Hoffmann, the party's group leader in Berlin, and states that the issue will be taken up in internal discussions.
Unclear export
He particularly notes that CDU representatives have stated that the decision was made jointly with SCU.
Merz's vice-chancellor, the social democrat Lars Klingbeil, welcomed the announcement on Friday and called the humanitarian suffering in Gaza ”unbearable”.
It is unclear exactly what military equipment is covered by the restriction, but of Israel's total arms imports in 2020-2024, Germany accounts for about a third – only the USA sells more weapons to Israel than Germany. This is evident from statistics from the peace research institute Sipri.
