@rysiek better late than never indeed. And yes, this is quite the change. For, ahem, reasons, the secure existence of the state of Israel is one of the basically untouchable positions of ALL german governments since founding of the federal republic.

I can only hope that this doesn't mean that we're backtracking in general to, ahem, previous times.

(German right-wing parties have a complicated relationship with the whole issue. Which means in effect, that they can milk any outcome for their benefit: Israel wins? Shows that strongman tactics against these evil leftist terrorists were the right choice. Palestinians suffer? Shows that all prejudices against "the jews" were right after all. Palestinians gaining support - of course they deserve that, again, "the jews"!

So the whole topic is a very complicated and dangerous political minefield here in Germany, and it is truly a miracle that Merz has moved that far at all.

(Keep in mind that during the last election, Merz said he'd invite Netanyahu to Germany with assurances of safe passage, despite there being an arrest order from Den Haag that Germany is kinda required to follow)

@rysiek
#PostOfTheMonth
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that Berlin would not approve German weapons exports to Israel for use in the Gaza Strip "until further notice."

It came as Israel's Security Cabinet approved a plan to take over Gaza City, with the government saying it was a necessary move to destroy Hamas and free the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

@rysiek
If this actually has any retarding efect on the genocide in Gaza, just maybe, in addition to public pressure registering, Germany's leaders are realising that assisting making Israel into a pariah fascist genocidal nation is not actually helping the long term viability of Israel.

@rysiek Big change for optics, but hypocritical and meaningless in practical terms.

Even if the IDF fully honours the terms, they can just shift other weapons to the Gaza genocide and replace them with the German ones, so the result is the same (except that the bombs actually killing Gazans will no longer say "Hergestellt in Deutschland"). 😕

@rysiek my guess would be: because Israel has already achieved its goal, so now they can pretend that they are doing something to mix out of their genocide

@rysiek Germany has historically supplied almost 30% of Israel's foreign acquired military equipment, with the US making up the vast majority of the remaining 70%. Israel quite simply could not have perpetrated their genocide without the ongoing support of the US and Germany. The US and Germany are already hugely complicit in what has happened there.

@rysiek 💯 word 💡 ✅