Conflicts
Scholz warns of conflagration in the Middle East
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) warns of a conflagration in the Middle East. photo
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
The security of Israel is German reasons of state. Chancellor Scholz will explain to the Bundestag today what this means after the bloody terrorist attack on Israel.
Before his government statement in the Bundestag on the terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on Israel, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) warned of a conflagration in the Middle East. The task now is to prevent this, he said on ARD. At the same time, he asked all citizens to help ensure the safety of Jewish fellow citizens in Germany and to stand by them in solidarity.
Scholz had already assured Israel of Germany’s unwavering solidarity shortly after the bloody Hamas attack with hundreds of deaths. “Israel’s security is German raison d’être. This is especially true in difficult times like these. And we will act accordingly.” The Ministry of Defense promised Israel on Wednesday evening that it would provide Israel with two Israeli Heron TP reconnaissance drones from the Bundeswehr’s inventory. It was responding to a corresponding request from Israel.
In total more than 2000 dead
On Saturday, Hamas launched an attack on the Israeli border area from the Gaza Strip that killed at least 1,200 people and injured around 3,000, causing the most serious bloodshed since the founding of Israel. According to estimates by the Israeli army, Hamas also has a total of around 150 hostages in its control. The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip rose to at least 1,200. The Ministry of Health in Gaza also reported 5,800 injured.
Scholz wants to talk to Türkiye and Qatar about the release of hostages
On ARD, Scholz called it “horrible” to see how people in Israel were killed and hostages were threatened with death. Efforts will be made to release the hostages, but will “act discreetly” and talk to countries in the region that could exert influence. Scholz announced consultations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is already meeting Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in Berlin today. The rich Gulf state is one of Hamas’s most important supporters and is said to have offered itself as a mediator for a prisoner exchange.
Scholz cheers on Hamas terror: “We cannot accept it”
The Chancellor sharply criticized demonstrations that cheered Hamas attacks. “We cannot accept this,” emphasized Scholz. There are also criminal offenses here. “Our authorities must and will follow up hard so that these crimes do not go unpunished.” At the same time, he promised to protect Jewish institutions in Germany. “Bitter enough that we have to do it, but we will fulfill this duty.”
Traffic light and Union want to send a common signal for Israel
Scholz will make his government statement in the Bundestag this morning (9 a.m.). After the two-hour debate, the three traffic light factions of the SPD, Greens and FDP want to put a motion for a resolution to the vote together with the CDU/CSU in which the “barbaric acts of violence” are condemned in the strongest possible terms. It says that Germany must “provide Israel with everything necessary and desired for its defense on the basis of international law.”
The Bundestag had already remembered the victims of the terrorist attack in a minute’s silence on Wednesday. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor sat in the official gallery in the Reichstag building. The diplomat was greeted with sustained applause by MPs.