Germany–Israel relations
Germany–Israel relations are the diplomatic relationship between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel. After the end of World War II and the Holocaust, relations gradually thawed as West Germany offered to pay reparations to Israel in 1952 and diplomatic relations were officially established in 1965. Nonetheless, a deep mistrust of the German people remained widespread in Israel and the Jewish diaspora communities worldwide for many years after. Relations between East Germany and Israel never materialised. Today, Israel and Germany maintain a "special relationship" based on shared beliefs and a combination of historical perspectives. A central pillar of this relationship is Germany’s commitment to Israel’s security as part of its Staatsräson, a policy that has also sparked domestic and international debate regarding its political and legal implications.
Germany is represented in Israel through its embassy in Tel Aviv and honorary consuls in Eilat and Haifa. Israel is represented in Germany through its embassy in Berlin and its Consulate-General in Munich. Both countries are full members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Union for the Mediterranean.
History
, founded in 1948, had no relations with Germany due to the Holocaust and until the reparations agreement with West Germany in 1952. The Israeli passport stated "This passport is valid for all countries except Germany", but this statement was removed after the reparations agreement with West Germany.Reparations agreement
In the early 1950s, the negotiations began between the Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion, the chairman of the Jewish Claims Conference Nahum Goldmann, and the Chancellor of West Germany Konrad Adenauer. Because of the sensitivity of accepting reparations, this decision was intensely debated in the Israeli Knesset. In 1952, the Reparations Agreement was signed. All in all, as of 2007 Germany had paid 25 billion euros in reparations to the Israeli state and individual Israeli Holocaust survivors. This commitment, driven by moral and political responsibility, became central to its Staatsräson— West Germany's post-war national interest. Staatsräson involved addressing historical debts, compensating victims, ensuring Israel’s security, and thus restoring Germany’s international credibility. There were significant reconciliation efforts, particularly from religious institutions such as the German Coordinating-Council for Christian-Jewish cooperation and the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace.In 1950, Hermann Maas became the first German to be officially invited to Israel. It took another fifteen years until West Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations on 12 May 1965. Since then, mutual state visits regularly occur, although for many years relations were affected by the fact that Jews both in and outside Israel maintained a deep mistrust of Germany and the German people. German President Roman Herzog's first official visit outside Europe was to Israel in 1994. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was the first foreign leader received in Berlin after the German government's relocation from Bonn in 1999.
Eichmann trial
West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer attempted to influence the trial of Nazi war criminal and Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann in Israel because he feared that the Nazi past of some senior West German officials, including Hans Globke, would come to light during the trial.Hans Globke's key position as chief of staff to Adenauer, responsible for matters of national security, made both the West German government and CIA officials wary of exposing his past, despite their full knowledge of it. This led, for instance, to the withholding of Adolf Eichmann's alias from the Israeli government and Nazi hunters in the 1950s. The German Federal Intelligence Service had known since 1952 that Eichmann was living in Buenos Aires and working at Mercedes-Benz.
Bilateral cooperation since 2000
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder visited Israel in October 2000. In 2005, the year of the 40th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations, German President Horst Köhler and Israel's former President Moshe Katsav exchanged state visits. The two countries established a network of contacts between parliamentary, governmental, and non-governmental organizations, as well as strategic and security ties.On 30 January 2008, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman announced that the German and Israeli cabinets would meet in Israel in March 2008, in honor of Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. This was the first time the German cabinet met with another cabinet outside of Europe. The joint meeting was expected to become an annual occurrence. On 17 March 2008, Merkel paid a three-day visit to Israel to mark Israel's 60th anniversary. Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signed agreements on a range of projects in education, the environment and defense. Merkel spoke of her support for the Jewish state during an unprecedented speech to the Knesset on 18 March 2008.
In January 2011, Merkel visited Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition Kadima leader Tzipi Livni. In February 2011, Netanyahu called Merkel to discuss Germany's vote in the United Nations Security Council in favor of the Palestinian proposal. Merkel reportedly told Netanyahu that he had disappointed her and done nothing to advance peace. To clear the air, Netanyahu was invited for a reconciliation visit to Berlin in mid-March 2011. In September 2011, Merkel criticized Israel for construction in settlements in Jerusalem and said that the new housing permits raised doubts over Israel's readiness to negotiate with the Palestinians.
Germany was one of 14 countries that voted against Palestine's UNESCO membership in October 2011, within the context of the Palestine 194 initiative. When Israel announced that building settlements would continue in response to Palestinian attempts to declare statehood unilaterally, Germany threatened to stop deliveries to Israel of submarines capable of firing nuclear warheads.
Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway, in May 2011 pulled out of the high-speed railway to Jerusalem project because the line will pass in part through the West Bank. According to press reports, the German transport minister Peter Ramsauer told Deutsche Bahn's CEO that the projected rail line was "problematic from a political perspective" and violated international law. As a result, the company, which is owned by the German government, withdrew from the project. The company's decision was seen as a victory for left-wing Israeli and Palestinian activists who had waged a campaign within the context of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
In May 2019, the Bundestag passed a resolution condemning BDS as antisemitism. In March 2022, the newly elected Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, made his first official visit to Israel.
Reason of state
In April 2005, German Ambassador to Israel Rudolf Dreßler stated that "the secure existence of Israel is in Germany’s national interest and is therefore an element of our reason of state". Chancellor Angela Merkel formally articulated this in 2006 by declaring Israel’s right to exist as a German national interest. According to Israel’s ambassador at the time, this declaration marked a shift away from German neutrality in the Middle East. Merkel later reiterated this stance in a 2007 UN speech and again in her 2008 Knesset address, where she stated: "The secure existence of Israel is in Germany’s national interest and is therefore an element of our reason of state" calling it "fundamental and non-negotiable", in light of Iranian threats.Critics, including former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, described Merkel’s position as “emotionally comprehensible, yet foolish view which could have serious consequences". President Joachim Gauck notably avoided using the term during his 2012 visit to Israel, expressing concern that invoking Staatsräson implied obligations the state might not be able or willing to fulfill. Under Merkel's leadership, the Staatsräson shaped Germany's position during the 2012 and 2014 Gaza conflicts, gaining wide bipartisan support, and being included in the 2021 coalition agreement, cementing it as a broad political consensus.
Germany's Staatsräson is reflected in its arms cooperation with Israel, its efforts to maintain regional stability, and its opposition to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Additionally, Germany supports Israel's interests in international organisations. Staatsräson also shapes German policy on antisemitism by linking funding of public institutions to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which is highly controversial as it can overlap with criticism of Israeli policies. In 2022, only 27% of Germans supported the notion of a special responsibility towards Israel.
Following the October 7 attacks in 2023, Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed the principle, stating, “Israel’s security is German Staatsräson” notably omitting Merkel’s earlier qualifier that it is only "a part" of it. He added, “In this moment, there can only be one place for Germany: the place by Israel’s side".
Domestically, the invocation of Staatsräson has also been cited in the context of banning protests and organizations critical of the Israeli government. Furthermore, the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt introduced a requirement for prospective German citizens to sign a written commitment to Israel’s right to exist and to condemn any actions directed against that existence—explicitly linking the requirement to German Staatsräson.
Criticism and debate
Germany’s commitment to Israel as part of its Staatsräson has sparked growing criticism. Scholars and civil society actors argue it is used to justify support for Israeli policies and restrict dissent within Germany.Instrumentalisation of remembrance culture
German-Israeli publicist Meron Mendel has criticised the invocation of Staatsräson in relation to Israel’s current leadership, calling it particularly problematic in light of the government’s “ultranationalist and religious-fundamentalist” orientation. The Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) described this usage as promoting a “manufactured unquestionability” around Israeli policies, undermining democratic discourse. Political theorist Maximilian Grimm argues that the state-centric framing of historical responsibility towards the state of Israel reinforces authoritarian tendencies and sidelines diverse Jewish perspectives, while distracting from contemporary forms of antisemitism. Similarly, scholars like Enzo Traverso and Daniel Marwecki warn of Holocaust memory being used to justify controversial Israeli policies, describing this as "substitute nationalism" that distorts Germany’s self-image and overlooks Israeli violations of international law.In this context, Staatsräson is increasingly seen as performative. As Bue Rübner argues in The German Chauvinism, some Germans seek to resolve inherited guilt through ritualised expressions of moral righteousness centred on support for Israel, increasingly equated with anti-antisemitism. This, he suggests, has fostered a culture of performative anti-fascism, where virtue is signalled through language policing and alignment with state narratives, rather than meaningful engagement with justice, pluralism, or anti-racism. He contends this climate enables punitive measures, such as disinvitations, defunding, and denunciations of people and organisations critical of the Israeli government. This has adversely affected Jews in Germany, many of whom have been "cancelled" for alleged antisemitic statements. Observers point to a pattern of elevating voices aligned with German and European ideas of nationhood, while marginalising more universalist, cosmopolitan, or emancipatory Jewish identities.
Censorship
The German government's commitment to Israel as part of its Staatsräson has increasingly influenced domestic policy, including restrictions on pro-Palestinian expression. These measures have raised concerns about civil liberties, academic freedom, and the narrowing of democratic space within Germany, especially as they relate to German-Israeli relations.A key precedent was set in 2019, when the Bundestag passed a non-binding resolution declaring the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement antisemitic. Though not legally binding, the resolution has been used to justify defunding, event cancellations, and speaker disinvitations at public institutions. These concerns intensified in 2024 when the Bundestag further institutionalised the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, criticised for equating criticism of Israeli policy with antisemitism. Under this framework, various educational and cultural programs—including the Jewish-Israeli art collective The School for Unlearning Zionism—were defunded after BDS associations were flagged. Critics argue this has constrained legitimate discourse around German-Israeli relations and Israeli policy.
Numerous artists, academics, and public figures have reported being disinvited from events over their criticism of Israeli actions. These include Jewish journalist Masha Gessen, Jewish-Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm, and author Adania Shibli. A lecture by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese was cancelled by Ludwig Maximilian University, citing anticipated controversy. Following campaigns against Middle East scholar Muriel Asseburg, similar cancellations occurred. In 2024, Nancy Fraser lost a professorship after criticising Israeli military conduct in Gaza. Jewish and Palestinian students, artists, and scholars describe a climate of fear and self-censorship. New legislation in Berlin proposed expelling students for political expression, further raising concerns about academic freedom in relation to Germany’s support for Israel. Civil society organizations and Jewish intellectuals have issued open letters condemning what they describe as disproportionate and politically motivated responses that threaten basic civil rights.
Trade
Germany is Israel's largest trading partner in Europe and Israel's second most important trading partner after the United States. Israeli imports from Germany amount to some USD 2.3 billion annually, while Israel is Germany's fourth largest trading partner in the North Africa/Middle East region. GermanyTourismBoth Germany and Israel offer one another Visa Free or Electronic Travel Authorization for their citizens to visit each other and for both the arrivals are considered as predominantly main group of tourist. Israel and Germany also offer each others citizens Working Holiday Visas.
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