Earlier this week German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After the call Merz’s spokesman released a statement saying the chancellor had expressed “deep concern about developments in the Palestinian territories” and that “there must be no de facto partial annexation of the West Bank.” Merz’s official social media account posted the same message in German and English.
Berlin’s position is not new: Germany has repeatedly warned against unilateral steps that would amount to annexation and continues to support a two‑state solution. Israeli policy, however, had already moved away from that path well before the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
This time the German warning provoked a sharp public reaction from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far‑right member of Netanyahu’s cabinet. On X he wrote: “The days when Germans dictated to Jews where they were permitted or forbidden to live are over and shall not return. You will not force us into ghettos again, certainly not in our own land.” Smotrich, the grandson of Holocaust survivors who lives in the West Bank, added “Am Yisrael Chai” — “The people of Israel live.”
Smotrich has previously made statements widely described as racist, xenophobic and homophobic and has frequently positioned himself against Israel’s Supreme Court. With Israeli parliamentary elections expected in the autumn, his rhetoric is seen as partly aimed at distinguishing himself politically.
In Berlin Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, contradicted Smotrich and defended Merz, calling him “a great friend of Israel.” Prosor said it was legitimate to disagree with the Germans even on emotional days such as Yom HaShoah — Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day — but condemned Smotrich’s comments as undermining the memory of the Holocaust and “presenting things in a completely distorted light.” Prosor accused Smotrich of instrumentalizing the mass murder of the Jews.
The unprecedented public attack by an Israeli minister on the German chancellor followed an earlier flare‑up in late March, when Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar reacted angrily to a post by Steffen Seibert, the German ambassador to Israel. Seibert’s post had mentioned settler violence in the West Bank. Seibert, a former German government spokesperson who has advocated for the hostages taken by Hamas and learned Hebrew, is not generally a critic of Israel, making his post notable.
The exchanges on social media reflect a broader and growing estrangement between Germany and Israel that predates October 2023. High‑level government consultations between the two countries have been scarce: the last full government consultations took place in 2018. Germany sees such consultations as a sign of exceptionally close cooperation; the long gap with Israel is striking compared with other partners.
The relationship shifted further in October 2025 when Merz distanced himself from the notion of Germany’s “special political responsibility” for Israel — a concept long framed as a “reason of state” since Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 2008 Knesset speech. Merkel had described a special responsibility for Israel’s security; Merz said he had always struggled with the term because its implications were unclear. Since then there has been more public debate in Germany about what concrete responsibilities Berlin should accept, including criticism of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war and questions about German arms exports to Israel. More theoretical issues, such as German participation in a potential international peacekeeping force for Gaza, have not been widely debated.
A fundamental policy disagreement remains over the viability of a two‑state solution. German foreign ministry spokespeople have repeatedly described new Israeli settlement projects in the occupied West Bank as violations of international law. The Israeli government has explicitly rejected Palestinian statehood, and continued settlement expansion is eroding the practical possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state. The United Nations likewise regards the settlements as a major obstacle to peace. Palestinian civilians have been killed in attacks by radical Israeli settlers, and settler violence has emptied Palestinian villages in parts of the West Bank.
Merz’s expression of concern was therefore rooted in longstanding German positions on settlements and international law — positions that prompted Smotrich’s denunciation. The British daily The Guardian quoted Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group, who said Israel repeatedly attacks Germany “for invoking the basic human rights of Palestinians,” even “at the expense of alienating their strongest European ally.” Zonszein urged the German government to reconsider its approach toward the Netanyahu government.
This article was originally written in German.
