The Foreign Office speaks of a “difficult decision” with regard to the vote in the UN General Assembly on another resolution that essentially calls on Israel to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. 153 states voted in favor of it in New York, with 23 abstentions and ten votes against, including the USA and Israel. The federal government has abstained once again, which is expected to lead to harsh criticism – from different directions.
On the one hand, the opposition in Berlin accuses her of “letting Israel and the USA down again,” as Union parliamentary group vice-president Johann Wadephul puts it. At the same time, the federal government in Europe is coming under increasing pressure because the majority of EU member states are clearly criticizing Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip and more and more states are joining the call for a ceasefire in view of the civilian casualties. 17 governments agreed to the resolution, including France and Spain.
The resolution does not mention the cause of the war in Gaza
The issue is back on the agenda at the summit of heads of state and government starting this Thursday in Brussels, and a number of governments are likely to push for it official position of the summit at the end of October which the Federal Government is sticking to. It talks about humanitarian pauses, not a ceasefire, and at the same time emphasizes Israel’s right to self-defense.
The Foreign Office justified its abstention by saying that the resolution tabled by Egypt contained elements that the Federal Government also supported: the call for better humanitarian access or for the release of the hostages. However, she does not address the cause of the war in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
“Only when Hamas lays down its weapons will Israel no longer be forced to defend itself,” the Foreign Ministry tweeted. On Wednesday, Hamas again fired rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Together with the USA, the federal government tried to make changes to the text, but with 82 votes it failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority. The US had previously vetoed a similar text in the Security Council. UN Secretary-General António Guterres had forced the committee to be referred again.
However, in the opinion of Union parliamentary group vice-president Wadephul, the justification for the abstention, i.e. the continued attacks and the “negation of Israel’s right to resistance, would clearly have required a rejection”, a position that only Austria and the Czech Republic now take in the EU. The federal government “ultimately follows a rolling course,” he said.
Egypt introduces the resolution for a ceasefire at the UN General Assembly: Cairo’s permanent UN representative Osama Abdelkhalek.
(Photo: MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO/Getty Images/AFP)
With regard to Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s participation in the climate conference in Dubai, Wadephul criticized the fact that the Green politician should have left it to the Environment Minister. After the federal election, Baerbock brought responsibility for international climate policy to the Foreign Office and took the lead in negotiating the most important point of contention for the EU, the exit from fossil fuels.
In the Middle East, the Federal Foreign Minister is “ultimately not a noticeable factor, which does not do justice to Germany’s responsibility and role,” Wadephul further complained. However, Baerbock does not rely on loud announcements, but rather on quiet diplomacy, on confidential discussions with many actors in the Middle East and close coordination, especially with the USA, from which, regardless of the votes at the UN, there is now very sharp criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war. US President Joe Biden on Tuesday accused Israel of “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza and warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he was losing the global war for public opinion.
Instead of a visit, there was only a phone call with Benny Gantz
Baerbock actually wanted to travel to Israel from Dubai for the fourth time since the Hamas attack on October 7th. After the climate conference was extended, there was only a telephone conversation with Benny Gantz, a member of Netanyahu’s three-person war cabinet. She also met her colleagues from Bahrain and Oman in the United Arab Emirates. Contact with Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar is intensive; the acting Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib is expected in Berlin on Friday.
Baerbock made it clear early on that Germany was not ignoring the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. She traveled to Ramallah. The federal government has increased humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territories to 179 million euros, of which 106 million euros were released after October 7th. Germany is therefore one of the largest international donors. She is also pushing for better access for international aid organizations in Israel. Israel has now agreed to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing, a request that also came from the USA.
What she, like the USA, has not done so far, and what critics accuse her of as an advocate of a feminist and values-based foreign policy, is to openly condemn the Israeli military deployment or speak of alleged war crimes, as other governments in Europe are now doing.
Talk to the Arab governments about lasting peace
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in his government statement on Wednesday that the discussion in Europe must also focus on the period after the fighting and on a sustainable security order. Participating in this process alongside the USA is the motive of Baerbock’s diplomacy. She had already traveled to Saudi Arabia and Qatar in May to improve relations with the two Gulf states and campaigned for a two-state solution with France, Jordan and Egypt when no one in Washington was talking about it.
The federal government is now trying to stay in conversation with the Arab governments, especially Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states, which are considered indispensable if there is to be a lasting peace settlement for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank – and at the same time show solidarity with Israel. The federal government is still stuck in this balancing act. But with every day that Israel bombs the Gaza Strip and kills civilians, that position becomes more difficult to maintain. In any case, the USA has clearly signaled to Israel that the fighting cannot continue at this intensity for much longer.