Iara Modarelli
21st Century Wire
Germany has suspended its weapons shipments exports to Israel, driven by growing legal challenges and increasing allegations of humanitarian law violations in Gaza. The 95 percent decline in arms export approvals and the acknowledgment of legal pressures suggests that the concerns raised by various human rights organizations have influenced Germany’s approach to arms exports, at least for the time being.
In April of this year, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), together with human rights organizations Palestinian Center for Human Rights, (PCHR), Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and Al-Haq, filed a lawsuit against the German government, seeking to suspend export licenses for arms shipments to Israel in representation of five Palestinians who lost family members in Israeli rocket attacks.
“I have lost most of my relatives. I have also lost my home and I am without shelter. Inhabited areas and public facilities are being bombed indiscriminately and intensively everywhere. There is no safe place in Gaza and I feel that my life is in constant danger because of the Israeli military operations”, explained one of the claimants in the lawsuit filed.
Specifically, they assert that violations have occurred under the EU Common Position on Arms Exports Control, the Arms Trade Treaty, the Genocide Convention, the Geneva Conventions, and human rights law due to the issuance of export licenses for weapons requested by Israel. These licensed weapons are reportedly being used to kill, displace, and devastate civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, as well as to restrict the transfer and distribution of humanitarian aid.
Last year alone, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth €326 million, including military equipment and war weapons, a 10-fold increase from 2022, according to data from the Economy Ministry, which approves export licences. Reports now indicate that since March 2024, no new permits for arms exports to Israel have been issued, with export volumes declining to €14.5 million, reflecting a 95 percent total decrease.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reports that 30 per cent of Israel’s arms imports in 2023 came from Germany. Importantly, the data also revealed that 99 percent of Israel’s arms are sourced from the United States and Germany, with Germany being the second-largest supplier globally at the time:
‘In 2023, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326.5 million euros ($354m), a tenfold increase compared to the previous year, providing 30 percent of the Israeli military’s weapons’—SIPRI’s data quoted in this article from @AJEnglish: https://t.co/HDdMFtlhkC
— SIPRI (@SIPRIorg) April 12, 2024
Additional data provided by SIPRI shows that between 2022 and 2023, Germany supplied 47 percent of Israel’s total weapons imports:
In 2022 and 2023, Germany accounted for 47% of Israeli weapons imports according to SIPRI. https://t.co/z2OACaleTp pic.twitter.com/kV1dycV5dZ
— Thorsten Benner (@thorstenbenner) April 6, 2024
Despite mounting legal pressures, a government spokesperson for Germany stated: “There is no ban on arms exports to Israel, and there will be no ban,” and emphazising that: “The federal government decides on the granting of authorizations for arms exports on a case-by-case basis, considering the current situation and taking into account foreign and security policy considerations in accordance with legal and political requirements.”
Alexander Schwarz, a lawyer at ECCHR, who has filed a total of five lawsuits against Berlin, pointed to the significant drop in arms approvals for 2024 as a sign of real, though likely temporary, hesitation to send weapons to Israel.
“However, I would not interpret this as a conscious change in policy,” Schwarz added.
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