Australia and the World Past and Present

Around two-thirds of Israel’s military imports come from the United States.

Around one-third comes from Germany.

As an advanced manufacturing country, this is perhaps no surprise.

Germany has been a firm supporter of Israel for decades.

Germany considers its security relationship with Israel as key to its own Staatsräson.

The Holocaust that emanated across Europe from Germany is the historical backdrop for German-Israeli relations.

It helps to account for such strong declarations of Israel’s right to exist, right to security and right to self-defense.

Within Europe, the strongest support for Israel’s right to self-defense often comes from countries such as Germany, Hungary and Austria.

But even Germany has its limits of support for Israel.

Following the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, Germany increased military exports to Israel.

Between the initial Hamas attack and May 2025, export licenses show that the value of German military supplies to Israeli was worth some €485m.

However, when the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to seize Gaza City in August of this year, the German government made the decision to no longer export military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza conflict.

Clearly the Germans were concerned about developments in Gaza.

First of all, the conditions in Gaza are appalling and have been for a long time.

There has long been concern about the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

There have been accusations from various quarters of a deliberate policy of starvation.

In the last few months, images of suffering children have circulated around the world and has had an effect on public opinion in many countries.

There are concerns that the Israeli government doesn’t have a clear military strategy in Gaza.

The conflict has moved from initial self-defence to the assault into Gaza. There have been negotiations, ceasefires, bombardments and the massive destruction of buildings inside of Gaza. Over 40 Israeli hostages are still being held by Hamas.

The German government is concerned that the new offensive will cause even more suffering while not necessarily getting Israel any closer to eliminating Hamas or retrieving hostages.

Predictably, President Netanyahu was disappointed withe Germany’s decision to halt military assistance saying the the country was “rewarding Hamas terrorism”.

The German embargo will have an impact and it makes Israel even more dependent on the US.