Report: German ministers secretly blocked weapons shipments to Israel
Two ministers within the German government blocked the transfer of weapons to Israel for months, according to a report from the German newspaper Bild, published on Sunday.
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz has denied previous accusations that Germany was blocking such shipments.
“We have supplied weapons, and we will continue to supply weapons,” he emphasized during a recent dispute in the German Parliament.
Yet “since March, Germany has not greenlit a single license for arms exports to Israel,” noted two Bild journalists in their summary of the report for Israel Hayom.
While the German Ministry of Economy told Bild that “there is no embargo on arms exports to Israel,” and that “each request is examined on its own merits,” inside sources claim that Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economy Robert Habeck, along with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, are responsible for blocking the shipments in their roles on Germany’s Federal Security Council.
Both are members of the left-leaning Green Party.
Habeck and Baerbock reportedly demanded that arms shipments be blocked until Israel signs a statement promising that “weapons coming from Germany will not be used for genocide.”
Bild further reported that a decision was made to send “urgently needed spare parts” to Israel, provided that Israel signs the demanded statement.
The German Ministry of Economy neither confirmed nor denied Bild’s report about whether such a demand was made, saying that it “does not provide information on decisions and votes in the Federal Security Council.”
Habeck has previously said that Israel’s actions in Gaza are “incompatible with international law.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
