The Mertz government recently announced the interruption of weapons shipping, which could be used in Gaza. But the transactions of the two countries are much more complex by Taz. On August 2, the Mertz government has announced that it is stopping to provide Israel’s war material that could be used in Gaza, and many talked about a change in Berlin. As the Taz points out in a revealing report, from the day of Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023 until last May, exports of weapons systems from Germany to Israel had reached 485m euros. They account for about 30% of Israel’s total equipment imports and bring Germany to second place among the suppliers of the country.

The newspaper, however, clarifies that what often goes unnoticed is the two -way relationship that exists in this area, since Germany is also an important buyer of Israeli weapons, the second “customer” after the US.

Also, as the Group Nuripouris of the Greens and one of the Vice -Presidents of the German Parliament had noted, Germany has a substantially dependence on Israeli military technologies and his intelligence services. As early as 2020, German forensic services had, for example, admit that they use the controversial PEGASUS monitoring software.

The presentation of specific data on the complex relationship of the two countries in the defense industry also explains the front -page title of Taz last Thursday, which, next to Benjamin Netanyahu’s photo, wrote: “Brother in German weapons”.

Tanks and airplanes

Even after the ruling of the International Court of Justice in 2024, which was talking about the risk of genocide in the Gaza Strip from Israel, the sales did not stop. The German military aviation was supplied by the Israel Aerospace Industries sections of the ARROW3 anti -missile system worth 3.6 billion euros. The same company had supplied the German side in 2024 with Heron -type monitoring drones. Another Israeli company, Rafael, technology supplies Leopard 2 tanks. The same company said on its website that it would also provide technology for Eurofighter fighter aircraft, Taz points out.

“German and Israeli military industries are linked to a multifaceted”, he points out the report and continues by quoting other examples, and also records the statement to the Reuters agency of Renk’s Managing Director, which produces gearboxes for tanks, that if he will eventually continue to be in Germany, for example in the US.

It’s not just the weapons

Cooperation, of course, is not limited to the defense sector. The economic and trade relations of the two countries are close. In early July, the UN special rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albaneze, presented a list of 48 businesses, doing jobs in the occupied territories. There were three Germans among them. The US has in the meantime put the Italian lawyer on the black list of unwanted persons.

The role of banks and major insurance institutions, which have supported Israeli government bonds, is not negligible. By the end of 2023 and after Israel, it has issued a $ 19.4 billion bonds to fund the war, Taz notes. Also, Allianz Insurance has invested and insured the Elbit military industry.

It is certainly not only German companies that support the Israeli war in a variety of ways. The Albaneze exhibition contains names, such as Microsoft that provides Israeli prisons software, booking.com and Airbnb that rent apartments in illegal settlements in Palestinian territories. The UN report also talks about German construction companies with activities on the West Bank.

Missing political will

The newspaper hosts the assessment of Miriam Zagke-us by the NGO ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights), which points out that “the Albaneze exhibition has made it clear that economic actors can also be complicit in acts that should be contrary to it.”

He adds, however, that “there is a lack of the will to deal with crimes in Israel and with the participation of German perpetrators.” On the contrary, what is recently observed is the relaxation of measures that would have to abstain from actions that violate human rights.