German leaders are complicit in Israel's genocide

A new YouGov survey shows that most Germans now believe Israel is committing genocide. This view challenges their government’s decades long position of unconditional support for the Israeli occupation, which is rooted in Germany’s dark Nazi past but now weaponised to crush any dissent and justify complicity in mass atrocities.

Israeli occupation’s right to ‘self-defense’: an obsession of German government

After the horrors of the Holocaust, where six million Jews and five million ‘others’ – including disabled, Roma, and gays – were murdered, Germany vowed ‘never again’. But over the decades ‘never again’ has become a state doctrine that elevates Israel’s right to self defence and security above free speech, civil rights, and even human life in Gaza, evolving into what many see as a government obsession.

In the aftermath of the Nazi holocaust, West Germany enshrined Israel’s security into national identity through the principle of Staatsräson, or ‘reason of state’ – meaning it is a top national priority deeply connected to Germany’s responsibility for its past crimes, and in the 1952 Reparations Agreement Germany agreed to pay billions in compensation to the newly established Israeli state. Eventual diplomatic relations in 1965 marked the start of the ‘special relationship’ between the two countries. This belief that defending Israel honours the memory of the Holocaust victims still drives much of Germany’s political agenda today.

Unwavering support for Israel at the heart of Germany’s foreign policy

This has meant that successive German governments have placed the Israeli regime at the heart of their foreign policy. In 2008, Angela Merkel told the Israeli parliament that Israel’s right to exist is just as important to Germany as it is to Israel itself, and she called this support “fundamental and non-negotiable”. Most recently, chancellor Olaf Scholz and the current chancellor Friedrich Merz, who last week had a criminal complaint filed against him for aiding and abetting the Israeli occupation’s genocide in Gaza, have said the same. For many German leaders, supporting Israel is not just about history but supposedly about preventing past horrors from happening again, and they wrongly see Israel as a safeguard against those dangers.

This unwavering support comes at a great cost to the freedom of those living in Germany who are shocked and disgusted about the ongoing genocide in Gaza and outraged about the Israeli occupation’s system of apartheid and land theft in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and take to the streets demanding change from the German government.

Clampdown on anything pro-Palestine in Germany

Things have become much worse since October 2023, with the country dramatically clamping down on pro-Palestinian activism and political expression. Authorities have equated dissent with antisemitism, banning demonstrations, and arresting protestors, including many for carrying Palestinian flags or chanting slogans such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, labelling these actions as ‘terrorist support’.

But this repressive environment extends beyond policing protests. Events, exhibitions, and awards have been cancelled over statements made by people who are critical about the Israeli occupation. This includes the barring of the UN’s Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, twice, from holding public events in Germany.

In the case of Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American journalist and founder of the Electronic Intifada, the German government threatened him with fines and up to one year in prison for speaking at the ‘Palestine Conference in Exile’, via Zoom, accusing him of violating German laws. Despite a legal order banning him from participating, Abunimah gave the speech anyway.

Anti-Zionist Jewish activists have also seen their bank accounts frozen, and the state has aggressively surveilled and harassed civil society groups that operate within the Palestinian solidarity movement.

No funding for any organisations or projects critical of the occupation’s crimes

In November, 2024, the German parliament also passed a controversial antisemitism resolution, known as Never Again Is Now: Protecting, Preserving and Strengthening Jewish Life, which mandates that authorities assess culture and scientific projects for ‘antisemitic content’ before granting funding. The resolution, which uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism – that anyone who criticises Israel is antisemitic – is meant to ensure that:

no organizations or projects that spread antisemitism, question Israel’s right to exist, call for a boycott of Israel or actively support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement receive financial support.

But the real reason for this resolution is to silence critics of the Israeli occupation.

Migration control has been transformed into a weapon of political repression, with foreign nationals who express Palestinian solidarity or criticise Israeli government policies continuing to face deportation or threatened with losing residency, with national security arguments masking political motives. This has raised serious human rights concerns not just about Germany’s treatment of these migrants but also about the erosion of freedom of expression and association, which end up marginalising Palestinians and Arab-Germans in society.

Germany complicit in genocide

Germany has been an accomplice to the occupation’s genocide in Gaza from the beginning, as it remains one of the Israeli occupation’s closest economic and military allies, and is the second largest arms exporter to the regime, after the US, with export licenses between 7 October 2023 and 13 May 2025 with individual export licenses for the final export of military equipment to Israel holding a total value of almost £425 million. This included firearms, ammunition, weapon parts, special equipment for the army and navy, electronic equipment, and special armored vehicles.

Though Chancellor Merz announced a partial halt to approving arms exports to Israel in August 2025, Germany has since implemented a more comprehensive freeze, with no new export licenses granted to Israel from that point through mid-September, effectively stopping new military deliveries that could be used in Gaza.

But the government continues with existing contracts and broader defense ties remain, showing Germany’s ongoing commitment to Israel’s security. This limited embargo has increased criticism both in Germany and abroad, and highlights the widening gap between German public opinion, which points to an increased awareness and empathy for Palestinians – and largely condemns Israel’s actions as genocide, and official state policy.

German government stance doesn’t represent public opinion

According to the YouGov poll, only 19% of German voters expressed positive or somewhat positive views on Israel – marking a steep decline in recent months, while 62%, across all parties, believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. This shift shows there is growing anger over the Israeli occupation’s military actions, and disagreement with the German government’s absolute backing. A poll has also found that more than half of Germans support recognising a Palestinian state.

Al Jazeera’s recent documentary Germany’s Israel Obsession shines a light on these tensions, while journalist Antony Loewenstein, draws on his own Jewish heritage, to explore how Germany’s overwhelming focus on combating antisemitism has been used to silence Palestinian solidarity, criminalise activists, and cancel cultural events.

The result of this Israel obsession is that the space for open discussion and honest debate is getting smaller all the time, and risks Germany moving away from democracy and more towards authoritarianism – all while hiding behind the excuse of protecting its historical responsibility to the Jewish community.

Feature image via AP Archive/Youtube.