When a nation professes to champion human rights and international law, most people would think its actions should match its words. Not so Germany.
Deutschland has, it seems, gotten itself caught up in that old and familiar trap of moral aspiration running up against claimed strategic necessity. So, on one hand, Berlin has publicly expressed disquiet at the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. And on the other, it has committed billions to buy weapons from Israel. These are weapons that have been battle-tested in precisely the theatre Germany now claims to worry about.
In September 2025 Berlin signed a €2 billion deal to procure the Israeli-designed “Spike” anti-tank missile system via EuroSpike, a joint venture in which Israeli defence firm Rafael holds a stake. These missiles are marketed as coming from a company that knows war.
As Tzvi Marmor, the EVP and general manager of the Land and Naval Systems Division at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, recently told the Jerusalem Post: “An important thing about Rafael is that we have people with operational vision who come from the field; we are all reservists with deep technological experience.” This comes at a time when attacks in Gaza have caused such large numbers of civilian deaths that the Israeli Defence Force – similar people “with operational vision who come from the field” – are under investigation for breaches of international humanitarian law. This is not to say that Rafael Advanced Defense Systems are under investigation, but they undoubtedly swim in the same pool.
To understand this more, AOAV recommends you read Antony Loewenstein’s The Palestine Laboratory. In it Loewenstein exposes how Israel has turned its decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories into a testing ground for weapons and surveillance technologies that it then exports worldwide, profiting from repression while arming autocrats and democracies alike.
At the same time, Germany’s government declared on 8 August that it would no longer authorise military exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza, citing concern over Israel’s planned expansion in the enclave.
The contradiction is stark: how can Berlin admonish Israel for its military conduct in Gaza and yet purchase weapons whose selling point is their efficacy in that very environment?
Germany’s longstanding posture towards Israel is steeped in historical responsibility. The Holocaust, the post-war guilt, the “never again” mantra… these all inform German foreign policy. However, that legacy demands more than perfunctory statements of support; it demands consistency. When the Bundesrepublik supplies weapons to an ally whose conduct it brands as raising “serious concern”, the moral integrity of its stance is eroded.
Critics will argue that Germany must secure its own defence, especially in an era of Russian aggression and alliance uncertainty. Indeed, procuring advanced equipment is rational from a strategic standpoint. But strategy cannot indefinitely be separated from ethics. This is particularly true when weapons imported on the basis of their battlefield efficacy are tested in an arena marked by immense civilian suffering.
Germany’s statements on Gaza often emphasise the civilian toll, the need for a cease-fire, and concern about Israel’s objectives. Yet by engaging in new procurement of systems described as “battle-tested” in Gaza, it creates a narrative of two standards — one for rhetorical condemnation, another for procurement reality. That duality undermines the credibility of Germany’s role as a normative power.
AOAV’s belief is that Germany cannot credibly question Israel’s military conduct in Gaza while paying for the missile systems honed there. Until the two actions are reconciled, German moral leadership in arms-export policy will remain not only contested but hollow.
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