Berlin risks being complicit in Gaza genocide, warns former German envoy

Christoph Heusgen, who served as a top aide to former Chancellor Angela Merkel, warned in a weekend interview with the Berliner Zeitung that Germany's supply of weapons to Israel could have serious legal ramifications.

"There is a real danger that if Germany supplies weapons to Israel that are used in Gaza, it will be convicted of aiding and abetting genocide. That would be a catastrophe," Heusgen warned.

He drew a distinction between weapons used for Israel's defense against attacks from countries like Iran and those used in the ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip. The latter, he stressed, should be immediately stopped.

“The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has determined that there is a risk of genocide in Gaza. Israel has failed to implement the ICJ's requirements, such as effective measures for the delivery of humanitarian aid. On the contrary, people are starving,” Heusgen said. He also underlined that the number of dead and wounded Palestinian civilians is devastatingly high and cannot be justified.

Amid mounting public pressure, Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition government announced last month that Germany would no longer authorize arms exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza. However, the government left unclear whether previously approved arms deliveries would still be completed.

Heusgen underlined that while Germany bears special responsibility for Israel due to the country's Nazi past, this responsibility also includes speaking up when Israel pursues policies that are misguided.

“When you see how Israel is increasingly isolating itself in the world through its actions that violate international law—and the recent attack on Qatar is another brazen step—it becomes clear that this policy poses a long-term threat to Israel's security. We have a responsibility to tell Israel that it will not get anywhere with its current policy,” he said.

Heusgen urged the German government to fundamentally change its policy and also called for the recognition of Palestine as a state, following the example of many other European countries.

“If our neighbor France, with whom we want to be aligned in foreign policy, as well as our close partner Great Britain and, most recently, Belgium, declare their intention to recognize Palestine, then Germany should also address this issue,” he said.

“More than three-quarters of the United Nations member states have recognized Palestine. Germany's current position is that a decision should only be made at the end of a peace process. In my opinion, we should reconsider this position,” Heusgen added.

The former diplomat served as Merkel's foreign and security policy adviser from 2005 to 2017, and later as Germany's permanent representative to the UN from 2017 to 2021. He chaired the Munich Security Conference from 2022 until February 2025.