After changing the course: arms export permits for Israel dropped to zero

The restrictions for arms exports to Israel imposed by Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) in August have meant that no deliveries were approved in the first five weeks after. This emerges from a response from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to a request from the left-wing MP Ulrich Thoden, which is available to the German Press Agency. Between August 8 – the day of the Merz decision – and September 12, “no permits” were granted.

The Federal Government “decided in individual cases and in the light of the respective situation after careful examination, including external and security policy considerations and according to the legal requirements,” according to the letter from the State Secretary Thomas Steffen. However, it affirms the principles of their Israel policy and remains “in particular the protection of the state of Israel”.

Change of course in German Israel policy

Merz announced on August 8 that no exports from armaments to Israel were no longer approved, which can be used in the Gaza War. He reacted to the increasingly aggressive approach of the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip and completed a course correction in German Israel policy. Up to this point, the Federal Government gradually tightened its criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, but did without sanctions.

So far it was unclear what concrete effects the export restrictions had. Now there is a number for the first time: at least in the first few weeks, export permits have dropped to zero.

Arms exports for hundreds of thousands of euros since Hamas attack

After Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the federal government initially strengthened arms exports to Israel. The government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) granted export permits worth almost half a billion euros until its replacement on May 6, 2025. In the end, however, there were no more weapons of war.

The black-red government of Merz also allowed the export of military equipment to Israel. An earlier response from the Ministry of Economic Affairs show that exports of 3.99 million euros were approved in the first five weeks of term.

Netanyahu accused the Federal Government reward of Hamas

Merz had agreed to the partial export stop in August with Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil (SPD), but not with the CSU and the management of the Union faction in the Bundestag. This caused greater resentment there.

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu accused Germany of rewarding Islamist Hamas for their terror. At the time, he expressed his disappointment in a conversation with Merz. “Instead of supporting Israel’s righteous war against Hamas, which has committed the most terrible attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany rewarded Hamas terrorism through a weapon embargo for Israel,” it said.

Left demands expansion of the arms export stop

The left in the Bundestag, on the other hand, demands that the arms export stop to be expanded. “Politically, a complete stop of all the arms exports already approved according to Israel and an end to the close armaments cooperation between Germany and Israel would be an end to the tight defense policy spokesman Ulrich Thoden. “Otherwise, the federal government is seriously at risk of making the Israeli military guilty of the international law crimes against the Palestinian civilian population.”