Netanyahu "Disappointed" In German Arms Embargo Decision
The Prime Minister engaged in what one source called a "tense conversation" with the Chancellor over the decision.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engaged in what one source speaking to Channel 13 called a "tense conversation with German Chancellor Friederich Merz today (Friday) over his decision to suspend any arms shipments which might be used in the Gaza Strip:
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this evening and expressed his disappointment with Merz's decision to embargo arms to Israel.
"Instead of supporting Israel's just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel's goal is not to take over Gaza, but to free Gaza from Hamas and enable a peaceful government to be established there."
The German Chancellor's decision, made without consultation with members of his own party or sister party, has taken the German political world by storm. Many on the left have cheered it, and people in the global and Israeli media are already speaking of the effects of this about face on Israel's relations with other friendly countries.
The practical effects of the embargo are expected to be fairly small, since Germany has in effect not provided Israel with weapons usable in the Gaza Strip since the war began and mostly provides it with strategic naval weapons and equipment, the overwhelming majority of which is not meant for anti-terror operations in the Gaza Strip, anyway.
The diplomatic consequences of this decision remain unclear. Germany has not indicated whether it intends to join in the effort to suspend Israel's association agreement with the EU, a move which would be a major economic blow to the Jewish State, or whether it will leave its penalizing of Israel at the level of a symbolic arms embargo.