Since taking office seven months ago, center‑right Christian Democrat (CDU) Chancellor Friedrich Merz has been navigating Germany’s sensitive “special relationship” with Israel. Disputes have erupted over Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,200 people in Israel. The Gaza health ministry, regarded by the UN and many rights groups as a reliable source, says at least 70,000 Palestinians have died amid Israel’s military operations since October 2023. Numerous international rights organizations and a UN commission of inquiry have concluded Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide.
Merz’s inaugural visit to Jerusalem is therefore fraught. Some signals point to continuity in Berlin’s support for Israel; others point to change. The shift in tone is visible in exchanges with Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, after comments by the chancellor.
Two weeks into office, at the end of May, Merz voiced concern about Israeli actions in Gaza and warned of breaches of international humanitarian law. Prosor responded calmly, saying on German public broadcaster ZDF that “when Friedrich Merz voices this criticism of Israel, we listen very carefully because he is a friend.”
Eleven weeks later, however, Merz took a tougher step. At the start of August he said Germany would stop supplying certain military equipment to Israel “until further notice” — specifically systems that could also be used in Gaza. Merz argued the government could not provide arms to a conflict that risked “hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.”
Prosor’s reaction was unusually sharp. He told Die Welt the pause in deliveries had not secured the release of Israeli hostages or produced a ceasefire, calling the move “the disarmament of Israel” and “a celebration for Hamas.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also accused Merz of rewarding Hamas.
The German government lifted the restrictions in mid‑November, effective November 24, with government spokesman Stefan Kornelius citing the ceasefire that came into force on October 10 as the reason. The ceasefire has proved unstable, with intermittent clashes between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces and Israeli strikes on Gaza. The Gaza health ministry reports more than 300 people killed by Israeli shelling across the territory since the ceasefire, including many children.
Merz speaks frequently of long phone calls with Netanyahu about the wider Middle East, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the 12‑day war between Israel and Iran. Those exchanges have taken place against the backdrop of legal questions: Netanyahu has been subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant since November 2024 for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes. Critics asked whether Germany, as a party to the ICC statute, would be obliged to arrest him if he visited. In February 2024, shortly before taking office, Merz said he had “promised him that we will find ways and means for him to visit Germany and also to be able to leave again without being arrested in Germany.”
Merz’s programme in Israel includes meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog and a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, which commemorates the six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany. Israel noted Merz’s emotional reaction in mid‑September when he fought back tears during a speech at the reopening of a Munich synagogue destroyed by the Nazis 87 years earlier; Merz also expressed “shame” at the rise of antisemitism in Germany.
The chancellor has acknowledged the strain of balancing diplomatic principle and realpolitik. After the arms export row he insisted the German‑Israeli friendship could survive disagreement: “Nothing has changed in that regard, and nothing will change,” he said. Yet Merz has admitted unease with the phrase “reason of state,” a term Angela Merkel invoked in 2008 when she addressed the Knesset and framed Germany’s historical responsibility for Israel’s security as part of its raison d’état. Merz used the term in June but has since downplayed it. At an autumn event where Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, repeatedly referred to “reason of state,” Merz omitted the phrase and instead called Germany’s commitment to Israel’s existence and security “a non‑negotiable part of the normative foundations of our country.”
Merz’s timetable also marks a difference with predecessors. He is visiting Israel about seven months after his election; both Olaf Scholz and Angela Merkel made their first trips to meet Israeli leaders within three months of taking office. Unlike them, Merz will first travel to Jordan to meet King Abdullah in Amman before flying on to Israel.
This article was originally written in German.