analysis
Whether it was a ceasefire, humanitarian aid or the right to self-defense – Foreign Minister Baerbock had to reconcile many things on her trip to the Middle East. And she always found herself in a dilemma.
It was Annalena Baerbock’s third trip to the Middle East since Israel experienced its own turning point with the Hamas attack on October 7th. The Federal Foreign Minister was on the road for less than two days: three and a half countries, seven high-ranking interlocutors. She was actually in constant crisis discussions. And one word dominated: dilemma.
Baerbock’s critics and opponents would call it her weakness, listeners probably call it human: When she talks about the pictures that the Israelis showed her of the Hamas massacre on her first visit in mid-October – a more than 40-minute video of horror – is to tell her that she understood then what had happened to Israel. “These images resonate forever,” she will say in Tel Aviv at the end of her third trip to the Middle East. Forever. It sounds like another commitment to Israel’s security as a German reason of state.
There is no black or white in the Middle East conflict
But, and this is where the dilemma comes into play, there are other, new images. There are the disturbing videos from Gaza. And they also did something to the German Foreign Minister: “When you see small children sitting apathetically and covered in blood in the rubble of their house, not knowing where their parents are, it affects you not only as a politician, but also as a mother. “
That is also Annalena Baerbock’s dilemma. Nothing in this conflict is black or white. Here is international law, which demands minimum standards even in war, and there is Israel’s right to self-defense, which wants to protect itself and its citizens. “We find ourselves in this dilemma,” says Baerbock after almost two days of continuous crisis diplomacy. It’s not the only dilemma she’s dealing with.
demands for armistice
At the start of her Middle East diplomacy she landed in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. After a long dinner with the Emirati foreign minister, she explained why a general ceasefire in the Gaza war is the worst possible idea. Baerbock said she understood the impulse, but it was wrong.
Anyone who calls for a ceasefire must say what will happen to the hostages. Anyone calling for a ceasefire must explain what that means for Israel’s security needs.
Almost at the same time, French President Emmanuel Macron called for exactly that: a general ceasefire. What’s more: Macron called the bombing of civilians “not legitimate.” Then, around 6,000 kilometers from home, the cracks within the EU became apparent, which Baerbock has recently classified under the heading of dilemma.
Baerbock wants to keep a “cool head”.
The fact that France, of all places, is leaving again, that Macron, who has an eye on French domestic politics and its Muslim population, is very alone here – Baerbock doesn’t say a bad word about it publicly. These are certainly the most difficult weeks in foreign policy, she reassures. Because it almost breaks your heart, she will say about it later. She too would like to follow Macron’s impulse and shout: Stop fighting!
But then the other German foreign minister shines through, who is not only a mother, not only a friend of Israel, but also a real politician. Then there is the talk of “cool heads”. Even in the hour of the worst crisis, she says, you have to think beyond the day.
Baerbock likes the image of a medium-term horizon that helps overcome short-term speechlessness. Israel is defending itself and not taking revenge, she says – and sounds a little as if she wanted to gently remind Israel that this is how it should be.
In the medium-term horizon, Baerbock sees, for example, Arab Gulf states that would have to take responsibility. Support the Palestinians with money and humanitarian aid. Push forward the two-state solution instead of sitting in the stands and waiting for the West. She calls her verbal solidarity a “message from the moderates to the extremist actors in the region: Don’t add fuel to the fire.”
No illusion about Germany’s role
By the way, Baerbock has no illusions about his own and Germany’s role in the Gaza crisis. While the Arab League is calling for a major peace conference in Riyadh this weekend, Baerbock would be happy if there were more humanitarian corridors to Gaza to bring food, water, gasoline and first aid kits, especially to northern Gaza.
It’s the small steps that a German foreign minister shows. In any case, she calls the humanitarian situation in Gaza catastrophic. And she’s not just saying this on Saturday in Ramallah, where she’s speaking in person to the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority for the first time since the Hamas terrorist attack.
She also said it to Israeli media representatives after her arrival in Tel Aviv. Your appeal: Strengthen the autonomous authority. Help Palestinians help themselves. In this context, she is bluntly demanding that Israel finally release all blocked funds for the autonomous authority.
Fear of wildfire
This is probably why the Israelis tolerated Baerbock’s visit to the West Bank rather than made it possible. But it was important to the German minister. “The future of the Palestinians must be better than their present and past,” she says, openly stating that banned settlement construction and, most recently, violence by radical Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank are extremely dangerous.
If the spark of violence spreads from Gaza to the West Bank, there will be a conflagration. Criminal and violent acts committed by Jewish settlers must therefore be prosecuted. Baerbock sees Israel as having a duty and responsibility here.
All people have a right to live in peace and dignity. And every life is worth the same, says Baerbock as she tiredly goes to the next crisis meeting with Israeli opposition politician Jair Lapid in Tel Aviv that evening. The German Foreign Minister on the Middle East mission does not notice that numerous Israeli Jews are taking to the streets outside the city at the same time against Benjamin Netanyahu and for a ceasefire in Gaza.