Germany has exported nearly half a billion euros worth of weapons to Israel since October 2023
Germany has approved arms exports to Israel worth nearly half a billion Euros since the October 7, 2023, attack.
The German Ministry of Economy’s response to a request for information from the parliamentary bloc of the Left Party stated that between October 7, 2023, and May 13, 2025, the delivery of weapons and military equipment worth €485.1 million to Israel was authorized.
It’s not clear though, from the response letter sent by State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics Bernhard Klotisch, whether the new German government, composed of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), has also issued arms export licenses to Israel since taking office on May 6.
In a recent interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s new Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, cast doubt on the possibility of issuing further arms export licenses to Israel, given Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip.
Wadephul explained that German arms exports to Israel will be subject to review, saying, “the review will determine whether what is happening in the Gaza Strip is consistent with international humanitarian law,” adding, “Based on this review, we will approve the delivery of further weapons if necessary”.
When asked whether this review could lead to a refusal to approve arms supplies to Israel, he said, “That’s what the wording of the statement means”.
Controversy has been raging for months over German arms shipments to Israel, as a lawsuit filed by the Latin American nation of Nicaragua is pending before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing Germany of complicity in genocide in Gaza due to its arms exports to Israel.
At the end of April 2024, the judges rejected an urgent request to halt the extraditions, but didn’t comply with Germany’s request to dismiss Nicaragua’s case outright.
Ulrich Tuden, a defense expert in the parliamentary bloc of the Left Party, called for an immediate halt to all arms shipments to Israel, otherwise Germany could be found guilty of complicity in the commission of crimes punishable under international law.
In the same vein, an opinion poll showed that a slim majority of Germans support suspending German arms supplies to Israel in light of the war on Gaza.
According to the poll, conducted by the INSA Institute for Public Opinion Research on behalf of the international organization FAZ, 58% of Germans supported a temporary halt to arms supplies to Israel, while 22% opposed this view. 19% didn’t specify their position on the matter.
