By Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff

 

BAYONNE, FRANCE, 04 August. - (ANA) - Berlin’s moral compass has gone dangerously south. For decades post-war Germany stood, rightly, as the global exemplar of how a country must behave after perpetrating the 20th century’s greatest crime against humanity.

 

The Basic Law in Germany enshrines the supremacy of international law and the duty to protect human dignity. Yet when confronted with credible evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and policies amounting to apartheid, ethnic cleansing and forcible transfer in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Germany’s reflexive restraint has calcified into a policy of ignorance and denial.

 

That deliberate hesitation is a dereliction of duty, undermining international law and jeopardising the security of Jewish life Germany claims to hold sacrosanct.

 

The scale and character of Israeli military operations, not only since 7 October 2023 but across decades of occupation, demand legal and moral clarity.

 

Disproportionate lethal attacks, indiscriminate bombardment, collective punishment, enforced displacement, discriminatory legal regimes and incendiary rhetoric from officials seeking to remove Palestinians from their lands are not abstract complaints. They are violations of the most basic rights of the Palestinian people and red flags that should compel any state serious about upholding international humanitarian and human rights law to act decisively. 

 

Instead, Germany has defaulted to political cushioning. Private admonitions and tepid public statements instead of principled policy.

 

Berlin routinely blocks strong, binding EU measures that could hold perpetrators accountable. Helas, this pattern is intentional malpractice. When a powerful ally insists – whether in Tel Aviv or Washington – Berlin bends toward tolerance for impunity.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/04 August 2026 - - -