Germany German Foreign Minister against arms embargo for Israel
Germany's new Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul sharply criticizes Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, but does not support an arms embargo demanded by Spain due to the dramatic humanitarian situation on the ground.
26.05.2025, 15:39
SDA
"Nobody is saying that the current situation is acceptable and can be tolerated any longer. Not even Germany," said the Christian Democrat at a meeting with his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares in the capital Madrid.
Spain is campaigning for an international arms embargo in the Middle East. Albares said that his country's initiative was aimed at "getting more and more countries to join in so that peace returns to the Middle East". More weapons are "the last thing the region needs at the moment". The Gaza Strip should "not be turned into a huge cemetery". The minister of the left-wing government emphasized: "Nothing that Spain is proposing is directed against the state of Israel."
Germany and Spain insist on two-state solution
Wadephul urgently appealed to the Israeli government and the Islamist Hamas to end the conflict through negotiations. Like Albares, he once again called for a two-state solution in which Israel and the Palestinians live peacefully side by side. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas reject such a solution.
Wadephul demanded of the Israeli government: "There must be no expulsion from the Gaza Strip. There must also be no policy of starvation." Instead, the people in the Gaza Strip must be supplied with sufficient aid and humanitarian goods. The situation there had "improved somewhat, although not yet sufficiently. We remain clear in our criticism and also clear in our calls to Israel."
Wadephul: Political and moral dilemma
In view of the external threats to the state of Israel, Wadephul also emphasized that its security remains the raison d'être of the German state. "Of course, this also includes the willingness to supply weapons in the future." Against the backdrop of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, this "naturally poses a major political and moral dilemma for us".
Wadephul also wanted to meet the left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Madrid. In the afternoon, talks were planned with Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.
