German arms exports, including to the Middle East, have reached a new record and are raising questions among experts and the country’s main churches, which are calling for stricter rules.
(DW) The granting of arms export licenses in Germany reached a new record in 2023, surpassing the 12 billion euro mark. This is mainly due to exports to NATO and European Union (EU) partner countries, as well as to Ukraine.
But that’s not all. German weapons have also been marketed to countries that previously did not buy this equipment, or only made sporadic purchases.
The federal government “has moved away from its stated goal of maintaining a restrictive arms export policy,” explained Max Mutschler of the Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (BICC) in Berlin on Wednesday (19/12).
Alongside representatives of the Protestant and Catholic Churches, Mutschler presented the latest report on arms exports from the Joint Conference on Church and Development (GKKE).
Germany’s two largest churches are very critical of the country’s handling of arms exports.
The GKKE takes a dim view of the government’s arms export policy, whose coalition – made up of the Social Democrats, the Green Party and the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) – collapsed a few weeks ago.
The main reason for mistrust is the countries that receive these weapons. If a German arms company wants to sell weapons abroad, it must obtain an export license from the federal government.
In the first nine months of 2024, the government approved exports to “highly problematic recipient countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar”, criticized arms expert Mutschler. For him, these contracts should be discontinued. “Arms exports to these dictatorships contribute to the oppression of their populations internally and fuel an arms buildup throughout the region, with negative consequences for Israel’s security,” the report states.
Germany “important arms partner of Israel”
The committee of experts and church representatives has been closely observing German arms exports to Israel, and points out “ambivalences in its own positioning”. In 2023, arms deliveries to Israel rose sharply to 326.5 million euros, ten times more than in 2022. This included 3,000 portable anti-tank weapons and 500,000 rounds of small arms ammunition.
Many of the licenses were approved after the terrorist attacks by the Islamist group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023. “Germany is an important arms partner for Israel, especially when it comes to ships and submarines, which strengthen Israel’s defense capabilities,” explained Prelate Karl Jüsten, the Catholic president of the GKKE. The committee underlines Germany’s “special responsibility for Israel’s security and its right to self-defense”.
However, the approval of the licenses stipulates that Israel must also obey international human rights laws and commit not to attack civilian targets.
Jüsten stresses that the German government should not approve arms exports to Israel if there is any suspicion that German weapons would be used to commit serious violations of international human rights standards. “Weapons such as tank ammunition cannot be exported to Israel unless the Israeli government gives much higher priority to the security of the civilian population in Gaza.”
Legal disputes
German arms deliveries to Israel have been the subject of legal proceedings in Germany and abroad on several occasions. Nicaragua accused Germany of complicity in the genocide in the Gaza Strip and filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. At the end of April, the judges rejected a request demanding an immediate halt to German arms exports to Israel.
Several lawsuits that have been filed in German courts to try to stop licenses to export military equipment to Israel have also failed.
Most recently, on December 16, 2024, a Frankfurt court rejected an urgent request from a Palestinian from Gaza. According to the court, German foreign trade law – the legal basis for export licenses – “offers no protection for foreigners abroad”. The applicant therefore had no right to take action against arms exports.
The court argued that it was also not clear that the German federal government had granted the export license “carelessly and arbitrarily”. On the contrary, Berlin had obtained assurances from Tel Aviv that it would “use the military equipment supplied in accordance with international law”.
Criticism of exports to Turkey
The GKKE is also critical of the increase in arms supplies to Turkey. This year, the German government has already approved arms exports to the Turkish regime of more than 230 million euros – more than in any other year since 2006. Since Turkish troops invaded Syria in 2016, the German government has adopted a largely restrictive stance to requests made by Turkey.
The government of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz has changed the way it treats Germany, which is reflected, among other things, in the export licenses for torpedoes and missiles made in Germany. On a visit to Istanbul in October, Scholz made it clear that the NATO partner country will receive more German armaments.
Mutschler argued that the rules that state that weapons cannot be supplied if they are used for acts of war or human rights violations also apply to NATO partners.
For the expert, Turkey’s military operations on the border with Syria and in northern Iraq are “attacks that violate international law, particularly in the Kurdish areas”, including against civilian targets. “That is the basis for us to evaluate these arms exports very critically.”
No law, little transparency
The GKKE pointed out that it also assesses the current government’s performance on arms exports negatively on two other points: Berlin has not passed the announced law to control arms exports, nor has it made any effort to provide transparent and rapid reporting on the export licenses issued.
In this respect, it has fallen behind even the previous government led by Angela Merkel. In fact, the cabinet only approved the arms export report for 2023 on December 18, 2024 – which, in the opinion of the Churches, is too late.