Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter warns against fighter jets for Saudi Arabia

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After the export approval for guided missiles to Saudi Arabia, Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter warns the federal government against giving the green light to the delivery of fighter jets. “It is wrong to sell Eurofighters to the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia,” said the chairman of the European Committee in the Bundestag star. “Especially given the fact that the Chancellor is denying the attacked Ukraine important weapons for its defense, such as the Taurus cruise missiles.”

However, the Green politician sees the situation with Iris-T and anti-aircraft defense somewhat differently. “I don’t see any sufficient reasons here to refuse delivery,” said Hofreiter. The federal government approved such an export of 150 Iris-T air-to-air guided missiles to Saudi Arabia in December. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit confirmed a corresponding “Spiegel” report on Wednesday.

U-turn in arms policy

It is a reversal in German arms policy, the first approval of an arms delivery to Riyadh since 2018. At that time, the grand coalition had imposed an export ban because of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Yemen war and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

At the same time, it is becoming clear that the federal government no longer wants to stand in the way of the delivery of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) justified this by saying that Saudi Arabia was contributing to Israel’s security and limiting the risk of a regional conflagration by having the Saudi Air Force shoot down rockets from the Houthi militia in Yemen that were aimed at Israel. The Eurofighter is produced in Great Britain, but Germany contributes components and therefore has to approve an export.

Green Party politician: “Saudi Arabia is committing serious human rights violations”

This caused uproar and horror among the Greens. MP Jamila Schäfer warned in relation to a possible delivery of fighter jets: “Saudi Arabia is committing serious human rights violations and is involved in the war in Yemen. Nobody can guarantee that these weapons would not be used for further missions that violate international law.” A “values-driven foreign policy” should not ignore this, she told “Spiegel”.

The security policy spokeswoman for the Greens in the Bundestag, Sara Nanni, also expressed concern: “The federal government committed itself in the summer not to deliver any Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia.” This was done “for good reasons”. “I expect the federal government to stick with it. It was less than five years ago that the alliance led by the Saudis carried out large-scale bombings against the Saudis. Future wars by the Saudis will look similar.”