Those developments make Merz’s first visit to Jerusalem deeply sensitive. His time in office has shown both continuity in German support for Israel and signs of a more cautious, critical edge. The contrast has been visible in public exchanges with Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, after early comments by the chancellor.
Two weeks after taking office, at the end of May, Merz publicly expressed concern about Israeli military actions in Gaza and warned they could violate international humanitarian law. Prosor responded in a measured tone on German public broadcaster ZDF, saying that when Merz voices such criticism “we listen very carefully because he is a friend.” But the relationship soon encountered a sharper public rupture. In early August the German government announced it would suspend deliveries of certain military equipment to Israel “until further notice” — specifically items that could also be deployed in Gaza. Merz defended the pause by saying Germany could not continue arms transfers to a conflict that risked “hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.”
Prosor’s reaction was unusually forceful. In an interview with Die Welt he described the pause as “the disarmament of Israel” and “a celebration for Hamas,” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Merz of rewarding the terrorists. The German restrictions were lifted in mid‑November, to take effect on November 24, with government spokesman Stefan Kornelius pointing to the ceasefire that began on October 10 as the reason. That truce, however, has been fragile: intermittent clashes and Israeli strikes have continued, and the Gaza health ministry reports that more than 300 people were killed by Israeli shelling across the territory since the ceasefire, including many children.
Behind the headlines are continuing, intense behind‑the‑scenes contacts. Merz says he has held long phone calls with Netanyahu about the wider region, the humanitarian emergency in Gaza and the 12‑day war between Israel and Iran. Those discussions have taken place amid tricky legal questions: Netanyahu has been subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant since November 2024 for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes, raising debate over whether Germany, as a party to the ICC statute, would be obliged to detain him if he visited. In February 2024, shortly before taking office, Merz told reporters he had assured Netanyahu that Germany would “find ways and means” to enable him to visit and depart without being arrested.
Merz’s program in Israel includes meetings with Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog and a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial that commemorates the six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany. Israeli observers noted Merz’s visible emotion during an earlier appearance: in mid‑September he fought back tears while speaking at the reopening of a Munich synagogue destroyed by the Nazis 87 years earlier, and he has publicly expressed “shame” over the rise of antisemitism in Germany.
The chancellor has acknowledged the difficulty of reconciling moral principles with geopolitical realities. After the arms‑supply controversy he insisted that the German‑Israeli friendship could withstand disagreement, saying “nothing has changed in that regard, and nothing will change.” He has, however, been wary of the phrase raison d’état or “reason of state,” a formulation Angela Merkel used in 2008 to frame Germany’s obligation to Israel as part of its national interest. Merz used the expression in June but later downplayed it; at a subsequent autumn event, after repeated references to “reason of state” by Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Merz omitted the term 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 timing also departs from recent precedent: he is traveling to Israel about seven months after his election, whereas both Olaf Scholz and Angela Merkel visited within three months of taking office. He will visit Jordan first to meet King Abdullah in Amman before continuing on to Israel — a routing that underlines the broader regional dimension of his mission.
The trip will test whether Berlin can sustain a close, historically rooted partnership with Israel while also mounting persistent criticism over conduct in Gaza and addressing legal and humanitarian constraints. The outcome will shape Germany’s role in a region that remains highly volatile and morally fraught.\n\nThis article was originally written in German.”}