‘A fatal message’: Rights group urges German president to cancel Netanyahu meeting

“Steinmeier’s visit is definitely not appropriate,” said Katja Muller-Fahlbusch, a Middle East expert at Amnesty International’s German branch, in an interview with Anadolu.

“His planned meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sends a fatal message … of German complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

On Monday, amid public protests in Berlin, Steinmeier welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog at Bellevue Palace with full military honors to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel.

Steinmeier is traveling to Israel with Herzog on Tuesday, where he is scheduled to meet Netanyahu and hold discussions with members of the Knesset.

According to Muller-Fahlbusch, Amnesty International’s German branch organized a campaign where people wrote letters to President Steinmeier, urging him to cancel his scheduled meeting with Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). There is an arrest warrant,” she said, referring to the ICC warrants issued in November 2024 over war crimes in Gaza, where Israel’s ongoing assault has killed nearly 53,000 Palestinians, primarily women and children.

“The German president is obliged not to meet him, by international law, by European rules and standards. He should not, he cannot, he must not meet Benjamin Netanyahu. This is what we are calling for,” the Amnesty official said.

She added that Steinmeier should use his position to “publicly denounce war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the genocide that is being committed by Israel.”

“Germany, of course, should also immediately stop all deliveries of arms to Israel,” she said.  

‘No reason of state is above the law’

Germany is a state party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC and obligates member states to enforce its arrest warrants.

However, newly elected Chancellor Friedrich Merz has questioned the legitimacy of the ICC’s decision and promised to find ways to welcome Netanyahu in Berlin.

Although German political leaders have expressed concern over Israel’s severe restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza, they have so far been reluctant to pressure the Israeli government and avoided condemning war crimes committed by the Israeli military.

While Israel cites the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks as justification for its devastating assault, numerous human rights organizations have condemned the Israeli offensive, characterizing it as a systematic campaign aimed at ethnic cleansing.

Apart from the ICC warrants against Netanyahu and other officials, Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

Israel’s severe restrictions on essential supplies have left over 2 million Palestinians in desperate conditions, subjecting them to what international organizations describe as a deliberate act of collective punishment.

German leaders have repeatedly said the country bears historical responsibility for Israel due to past Nazi crimes and the Holocaust, and argued that Israel’s security is part of Germany’s “reason of state.”

Muller-Fahlbusch criticized this approach, arguing that one of the most important lessons from the past is that Germany should always be bound by – and defend – the rule of law and international law.

“Germany’s commitment to international law and a rules-based order is one of the lessons learned from World War II and the Shoah (Holocaust),” she said.

“This is German responsibility, and it’s very clear to us that no ‘reason of state’ is above the law or international law.”

She further criticized the Israeli government’s policies of starvation and displacement in Gaza as flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.

“We see people starving, we see people dying of hunger, of malnutrition. We see the health system is collapsing. None of this is legal, none of this is justified,” she said.

“This is a crime – an ongoing crime – under the eyes of the international community … and this must stop now.”