Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Germany’s Friedrich Merz and the center-right CDU/CSU political alliance on their “clear election victory” in Germany’s elections Sunday.
Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance won more than 28 percent of the vote, according to projections in the early hours of Monday morning, crushing the Social Democrats (SPD) of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which were looking at a historic low of 16 percent.
“Looking forward to working closely with your upcoming government to further strengthen the partnership between our two countries,” Netanyahu wrote on X.
Netanyahu met with Merz in Jerusalem last February, while the CDU/CSU leader was still the German Leader of the Opposition.
At the time, Netanyahu thanked him for his “unwavering support of Israel and its right to defend itself, and for Germany’s historic commitment to Israel.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also congratulated Merz on his victory.
“I am convinced that, as a friend of Israel, you will strengthen and deepen the relationship between the people of Germany and the people of Israel,” wrote Sa’ar on X. “We look forward to your first visit in Jerusalem as chancellor.”
Merz is a staunch supporter of Israel and had pledged to strengthen ties with Jerusalem should he win the election.
During a speech at the Körber Foundation in Berlin last month, Merz criticized his political opponents for what he claimed was an arms embargo against it amid its war against Hamas in Gaza.
“I will put an end to what is more or less an export embargo under the current government. We will say that whatever Israel needs to exercise its right to self-defense, they will get,” he said.
He added that Germany would show its support for Israel “not only in our words but in our deeds.”
It has to be very clear again that Germany is not in a position somewhere in between, no,” he stressed. “Germany stands very clearly by the side of Israel.”
In October, Merz accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government of delaying arms exports to Israel, after a significant drop in weapons shipments was noted in 2024 compared with 2023.
“For weeks and months, the federal government has refused to grant export permits for ammunition and even spare parts for tanks,” Merz had said at the parliamentary session.
“We are aware of several specific cases where the government has withheld approval for equipment and material that Israel urgently needs to defend itself,” Merz added at the time.
The German government has denied that there was an arms export boycott on Israel, and said that export permits are issued case-by-case after careful review, taking into account international law, foreign policy and security considerations.
Merz has also spoken out against the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
“It is unimaginable for me that we will not be able to invite an Israeli elected, democratically legitimized head of state and government in Germany to visit,” he told the Körber Global Leaders Dialogue last month.
In an interview with the German Jewish Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper earlier this month, he reiterated that he would find a way for Netanyahu to visit Germany without risk of arrest.
“The International Criminal Court was once founded against authoritarian states with governments that were not democratically legitimate,” he said. “Israel is the only democracy in the entire Middle East. It is inconceivable that a representative of this state should no longer be able to enter the states of the European Union because of a decision by the International Criminal Court.”
Reuters contributed to this report.