Was it because of the footage of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip, widely broadcast by German media? Or the latest polls highlighting the growing sense of hostility among Germans toward Israel? In recent days, conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz (Christian Democratic Union, CDU), in office for barely three weeks, made unusually critical remarks about the Israeli government.

"What the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip, I no longer understand, frankly, what its objective is," Merz said on Monday, May 26, during a conference in Berlin. "To cause such suffering to the civilian population, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism." The following day, he reiterated these statements during a trip to Finland: "The massive military strikes by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip no longer make any sense to me (...), I view what has happened in recent days very, very critically."

Germany faced a "dilemma" between two fundamental principles it holds dear, said Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, also a member of the CDU: on the one hand, support for the State of Israel, which remains under threat from neighboring countries, and on the other, respect for human rights and international law. "Our committed fight against antisemitism and our full support for the right to exist and the security of the state of Israel must not be instrumentalized for the conflict and the warfare currently being waged in the Gaza Strip," Wadephul told the WDR broadcaster.

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