The Chancellor promised Israel: “We have delivered weapons and we will deliver weapons.” This is now clearly reflected in the arms export statistics.
The federal government is expanding its approvals for arms deliveries to Israel more than previously known. According to the Foreign Office, exports of arms worth 94.05 million euros have been permitted to the country, which is at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, since August alone. That is more than twice as much as the 45.74 million euros that the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported to the Bundestag’s Economic Committee last week for the entire year up to October 13th. The new number comes from a response from the Foreign Office to a query from BSW MP Sevim Dagdelen, which was submitted to the German Press Agency.
There has been a dispute over arms deliveries to Israel for months. Last year, the traffic light government approved arms deliveries to Israel for 326.5 million euros, including war weapons for 20.1 million. The majority of the export permits went back to the period after the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas on October 7th. In the first few months of this year, however, export permits were drastically reduced.
Merz accused Ampel of blocking – Scholz countered
As of August 21, only deliveries worth 14.42 million euros had been approved, according to an earlier response to a parliamentary question. The export of military weapons was no longer permitted from the beginning of March until this date. Opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) then accused the federal government of blocking export applications from defense companies, including the delivery of ammunition and spare parts for tanks.
The federal government, on the other hand, always emphasized that there was no ban on arms exports. “We have delivered weapons and we will deliver weapons,” Scholz promised in the Bundestag debate on the anniversary of the attack on October 7th. This is now also reflected in the statistics.
Dagdelen calls exports “irresponsible”
BSW politician Dagdelen called the exports “irresponsible”. “By providing arms aid to Israel, the traffic light government is aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza and Lebanon instead of taking into account the majority will of the population in Germany for an arms embargo,” she said.
Source: Stern
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