Arms exports to Israel: New government approves millions!

Arms exports to Israel: New government approves millions!

In the first weeks of the new federal government of the Union and SPD, arms exports to Israel worth almost four million euros were approved. This approval, issued between May 7 and June 10, 2025, provides the first official information about the new government's handling of arms shipments, it reported Radio Bielefeld. A query from Left-wing Bundestag member Desiree Becker revealed that no war weapons were listed among the approved arms deliveries. These figures are in stark contrast to the approvals of the previous government, which approved arms deliveries worth almost half a billion euros in the period following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.

With an approved amount of 3.986 million euros, the new government is viewed critically for its arms exports to Israel. In the first quarter of 2025, approved arms exports amounted to 28 million euros. This puts Israel in tenth place on the list of the most important recipients of German weapons. The calls within the SPD to stop arms exports to Israel are becoming louder, while the Union is taking a different stance.

Criticism of arms exports

The approvals come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Israeli government broke the ceasefire in Gaza and continued to use violence against civilians. Such circumstances cast more than just a shadow on German arms exports taz determines. After all, Germany has delivered armaments worth 485 million euros to Israel since the aforementioned attack in October 2023, although the exact details of the approvals often remain obscure. While Germany is Israel's second-largest arms supplier after the United States, it is unclear how the government reconciles this with existing norms of international law.

A look at the history shows that there was already an export ban on military weapons between March and August 2023. During this time, the federal government wanted to seek legal protection because the humanitarian abuses in the Gaza Strip cannot be ignored. After the stop, however, approvals for arms exports rose sharply from October 2023.

The international legal situation

In the current year, over 80% of the approval applications were approved after October 7, 2023, which is reflected in an approval volume of over 326.5 million euros, of which more than 20 million euros relate to war weapons. These figures make it clear that arms exports to Israel not only have an economic dimension, but also raise serious questions under international law. There are even lawsuits against Germany that address possible complicity in genocide, such as Zenith clarified.

The public discussion also revolves around calls to impose an arms embargo on Israel to stop the violence. Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether the new government will take criticism of its arms policy seriously or whether economic interests will continue to take precedence over humanitarian concerns.