One of the first acts of Chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz (Christian Democrat, CDU) after the election was to invite the right-wing extremist Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Germany. This act clearly demonstrates the militaristic and authoritarian character of the new federal government, likely to be composed of the CDU and the Social Democrats (SPD).
Netanyahu is a war criminal and genocide perpetrator indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The central accusation against Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Galant, is “the deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.” This constitutes a war crime. The two politicians are also accused of further crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution.
Merz’s initiative is a direct violation of international law. Germany is one of the 124 states that have signed the ICC’s Rome Statute and is obliged to arrest Netanyahu should he visit Germany. Instead, Merz stated that when he called him on Monday, he “also promised Netanyahu that we would find ways and means for him to visit Germany and leave again without being arrested in Germany.” He considered it “a completely absurd notion that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany,” the chancellor-elect continued.
Merz’s invitation makes clear that a government under his leadership will continue to support Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians and even expand that support. The previous government—a coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens and Liberal Democrats (FDP) under Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens)—fully supported the genocide from the outset. Not only did it defend the crimes committed in Gaza, but it also supplied the weapons for them and denounced and criminalised anyone who criticised the genocide as “antisemitic.” Just a few days before Germany’s federal election, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese was intimidated by police in Berlin, who monitored her speech criticizing the Israeli genocide.
In January, in a speech on foreign policy before the Körber Foundation, Merz had already announced he would support Israel even more strongly. A federal government led by him would “also strengthen our relations with Israel,” he said. He would “immediately end the de facto export embargo” for some weapons systems, and in future the motto would be: “Israel will get what it needs to exercise its right to self-defence.” This “affair of state” for Germany would “again be measured by deeds and not just by words.” It must “be made unmistakably clear once again: Germany does not sit on the fence, but stands firmly by Israel’s side.”
It is the height of criminality when the German ruling class, under the mantra of an “affair of state,” justifies its support for Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians by referring to its own responsibility for the genocide of 6 million Jews in World War II. In fact, it is continuing that very same genocidal tradition. By supporting Israel, it is not upholding “Never Again” as it officially claims, but is rather repeating the crime! Netanyahu’s campaign of annihilation leaves no doubt about that.
After almost a year and a half of genocide, the Gaza Strip has been almost completely destroyed and tens of thousands of Palestinians—mostly women and children—have already been murdered. The survivors face the same fate or forcible expulsion. The Netanyahu government is currently using the fragile ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza to extend the genocide to the West Bank.
Even as Merz extended his invitation to Netanyahu, the deputy speaker of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), Nissan Vaturi (Likud), described the Palestinians in Gaza as “pariahs” that “nobody in the world” wanted. “Children and women” must be “separated and adults eliminated.” They were “filth and subhumans.” He also called for the West Bank to be razed to the ground, following the example of the Gaza Strip. “We will soon turn Jenin into a Gaza,” he threatened.
At the same time, President Donald Trump released an AI-generated video showing him and Netanyahu sipping cocktails on the beach in Gaza. Among scantily clad dancers, the fascist oligarch and Trump advisor Elon Musk can be seen throwing dollar bills in the air. In the background, Teslas drive round squares where golden Trump statues can be seen. The video is not just a provocation by a completely degenerate ruling class, it illustrates the monstrous programme of Trump, who at the beginning of the month had already announced his plan to ethnically cleanse and annex the Gaza Strip and turn it into a “Middle East Riviera.”
As with the imperialist subjugation and exploitation of Ukraine, which is reaching a new stage with Trump’s “commodity deal” with Kiev, German imperialism does not want to be left out of the recolonisation of the Middle East either. That is the real significance of Merz’s invitation to Netanyahu. The war aims go far beyond the Palestinian territories. Berlin and the other imperialist powers are courting Israel in order to pursue their economic and geostrategic interests in the region with Tel Aviv as their proconsul. Supporting and arming the Israeli killing machine is part of the broader aim of subjugating the entire region and redividing the whole world among the imperialist powers.
In the wake of the federal elections, the ruling class—driven by the international crisis of capitalism and the breakdown of transatlantic relations—is in a veritable war frenzy. The plans range from a new €200 billion special fund for the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) to an increase in annual defence spending to 3.5 percent of GDP, as proposed by Robert Habeck and the Greens, or even five percent, as demanded by Alice Weidel of the fascistic Alternative for Germany (AfD). In this context, Berlin’s alliance with Netanyahu is also a serious warning: as in the past, rearmament does not serve “peace,” but the implementation of genocide, war and dictatorship.