He added he planned to hold a call with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him “to not overdo it,” though for “historical reasons,” Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than some European partners.
“But if lines are crossed, where international humanitarian law is really being violated, then Germany, the German chancellor, must also say something about it,” Merz said.
Things are shifting in the EU. It seems like the EU - Israel association agreement will not be prolonged and Spain is pushing for an EU arms embargo on Israel. As that would also exclude ships carrying arms to Israel to use EU ports, this would only allow Israel to receive arms either directly from ships passing through Suez or through its port in the Gulf or complicit regimes, especially UAE. This would drive up the internal pressure in Muslim majority countries around Israel to stop their complicity.
People are tired of Israels bullshit and more and more politicians wake up to the fact that they can only lie for so long, when they cannot even gain anything out of it for their people, but instead Israel expects them to pay up. The same could happen with the US where all Trump needs to do is check the accounts properly and see how much money Israel is costing the US and what for.
Without the US Israel is done. But already without the EU as a trading partner and logistics access Israel will become very unsustainable economically. If the US wants to cover that, they will have to pay up much more.
The problem with Germany is that now they are trying to carry outwards, what they used to do inwards. Keep talking about how they remind Israel to uphold international law, how they “put a question mark” to the statement that Israel is in compliance with the laws, how the situation in Gaza is truly horrible and they work towards a two state solution by negotiations, but how recognizing a Palestinian state would jeopardize this, how stopping weapon shipments to Israel would jeopardize it, how it is all Hamas fault anyways and all the other nonsensical talking points you have heard over the past years.
The key takeaway here is that they are claiming that “talking to Israel” is what would move things to improve, while they oppose taking action as “too drastic”. It is good that they have to become louder in their words, but it is still meant to appease rather than to act.
I knew that after all, Eurovision is going to be the last straw /s
Seriously though, I can totally see the EU only being on board with unlimited support to Israel because they wanted to present a united front with the US, to give the US less excuse to leave the EU and Ukraine to its fate.
After Signalgate though, it showed how contemptous that relationship was, and how the US leadership views defending trade routes critical to the EU against the Houthis as a European task, despite the fact the danger to them came entirely as a result of the US-Israel alliance of the EU. I was totally thinking back then that this was not going to stand if these really are the cards, and there is no point for the EU to antagonise the Houthis just to please Trump for nothing in return.