Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sharply criticized Germany's decision to partially halt arms exports to Israel. “Instead of supporting Israel's just war against Hamas, which has committed the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism with an arms embargo against Israel,” Netanyahu's office said on Friday after a phone call between the prime minister and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU).
Netanyahu expressed his “disappointment” with the German decision during the phone call, the statement continued. Israel's goal is not to take over the Gaza Strip, but to “liberate it from Hamas” in order to enable the establishment of a “peaceful government.”
Merz had announced that, due to the expansion of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, “no exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip” would be approved “until further notice.”
On Thursday night, the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan to defeat the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The plan calls for the Israeli army to also take control of the city of Gaza. This expansion of the Israeli military operation was met with sharp criticism internationally, and also in Israel.
Merz said that Israel had the right to defend itself “against the terror” of the radical Islamic Hamas. The chancellor reiterated calls for a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages, and the disarmament of Hamas. However, the “decision by Israel to take even tougher military action in the Gaza Strip” makes it “increasingly difficult to see how these goals can be achieved,” the chancellor said.
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