Weapons for Israel? According to the survey, majority is behind delivery stop

Almost two thirds of the Germans support the partial delivery stop for arms exports announced by Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) to Israel. This is shown by the results of a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the news agency dpa. According to this, 65 percent of Germans consider the Chancellor’s decision of August 8th. 19 percent of those entitled to vote are wrong. 16 percent of the respondents did not dare to judge this question.

Merz announced on August 8 that no exports of armaments were approved for the time being that could be used in the Gaza War. He justified this with the decision of the Israeli security cabinet to take the city of Gaza. After criticism from Union circles, Merz emphasized that the federal government will continue to help Israel to defend itself. However, you cannot provide any weapons into a conflict that could demand hundreds of thousands of civilian victims.

According to the survey, there are above -average approval for the decision of the Chancellor among the people who chose the Greens, the left, the SPD or CDU/CSU in the past Bundestag election. The partial delivery stop at the voters of the FDP and the AfD was a little less well received. Differences between opinion between the respondents in East and West cannot be seen on this question.

The opinion is less clear than in the discussion about the delivery of certain armaments to Israel when it comes to possible consequences of the Gaza War at the EU level. Several EU countries, including Spain and France, have campaigned for a suspension or review of the EU Association Agreement with Israel due to violations of human rights in the Gaza Strip, which, among other things, provides for close political and economic cooperation between the European Union with Israel. The federal government had spoken out against it. Among other things, she justified this that the conversation channels were to be kept open to Israel.

According to the survey, 45 percent consider this right. 32 percent of Germans are wrong not to feel the association agreement with Israel. Almost every fourth (23 percent) replied to this question with “don’t know”.

Members of the Hamas and other Islamists had delayed more than 250 people from Israel to Gaza in a terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. Around 1200 people were killed. Since the beginning of the Gaza War, almost 62,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the health authority controlled by the Hamas. UN organizations rate the number as largely credible.