Military cooperation
Significantly more arms exports for Israel approved
The majority of the 218 individual German permits so far this year have been issued since the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th. photo
© Robert Michael/dpa
For the Federal Government, Israel’s security is part of Germany’s reason of state. This is also reflected in the current figures.
The federal government has approved its approvals for arms exports Israel increased massively. Up to and including November 2nd, it allowed exports worth almost 303 million euros – that is almost ten times as much as in the whole of 2022 at around 32 million euros. The German Press Agency in Berlin learned this from the Federal Ministry of Economics. The approvals are particularly concerned with components for air defense and communications equipment.
The majority of the 218 individual permits so far this year have been issued since the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th. Since then, 185 permit applications from Israel have been finally processed.
“Following the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, the federal government will process and decide on applications for the export of military equipment to Israel as a priority due to the current situation,” the ministry said.
The majority of exports are not war weapons
According to the information, war weapons only accounted for around 6 percent of the total volume, with a value of just under 19 million euros. The lion’s share of almost 284 million euros goes to other military equipment. This category includes, for example, armored vehicles, safety glass or military trucks.
The federal government generally does not provide details about deliveries, also so that the German companies involved cannot be identified. Last year, war weapons accounted for just over 2 percent of the total volume of permits for delivery to Israel. Individual large orders can have a major influence on fluctuations in the statistics.
Heads of government agreed to expand cooperation
Germany and Israel have been cooperating closely in the armaments sector for a long time. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed in March during Netanyahu’s visit to Berlin to further expand this cooperation.
For example, Germany purchases the Arrow 3 air defense system from Israel for a European missile defense shield and drones. In the past, Germany has mainly delivered submarines to Israel and also promoted exports with tax money. The background is that Germany declared the security of Israel to be a reason of state in view of the murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany.
Israel sources military equipment primarily from the USA
After Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, Scholz promised the country that he would provide all the military help that was requested. However, as far as is publicly known, the inquiries were initially very limited. The country receives military support primarily from the USA. So far, drones of the Israeli type Heron TP, which can also be armed, have been promised. There was also originally a request for ammunition for warships. In the meantime, however, it was said that it had been withdrawn again.
The Federal Ministry of Economics decides on the approval of arms exports with the participation of the Foreign Office and the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA). In particularly sensitive cases, the Federal Security Council, which includes Chancellor Scholz and other ministers, usually decides.