Earlier this week, when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it seemed like a routine exchange between world leaders.
Afterward, Merz’s spokesman Stefan Kornelius sent out a press release about the call. The final two sentences read: “In the conversation, the chancellor expressed his deep concern about developments in the Palestinian territories. There must be no de facto partial annexation of the West Bank.”
On the platform X, the chancellor’s account shared the same message in both a German and an English post: “I made it clear: There must be no de facto annexation of the West Bank.”
None of this is really new. In a call between the two heads of government in mid-July 2025, for example, the German government reported: “The chancellor emphasized that there must be no steps toward any annexation of the West Bank.” Even then, the German side made it clear that it was firmly opposed to any unilateral Israeli action.
Berlin continues to support a two‑state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli policy, however, had set this two‑state solution aside long before the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023.
Smotrich slams Merz’s criticism of West Bank settlements
However, this time the German warning was followed by a verbal escalation, with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticizing Merz on social media.
“The days when Germans dictated to Jews where they were permitted or forbidden to live are over and shall not return. You will not force us into ghettos again, certainly not in our own land,” the 46‑year‑old wrote on X Monday evening, in response to the German leader’s post.
Smotrich, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, is one of several far‑right politicians in Netanyahu’s cabinet. He was born in the Israeli‑occupied Golan Heights and today lives in the Israeli‑occupied West Bank.
Smotrich has repeatedly drawn attention with statements widely described as racist, xenophobic and homophobic. He also occasionally positions himself in open opposition to Israel’s Supreme Court.
With Israel’s parliamentary elections expected in the autumn, he is seeking to distinguish himself politically from Netanyahu.
Smotrich issued his statement on the eve of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, when the country commemorates the 6 million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany during World War II. On that day, life in Israel comes to a standstill for several minutes as survivors of the Nazi mass murder of Jews and others take part in remembrance ceremonies.
Smotrich alluded to this day in his criticism of Merz, referencing the ghettos and ending with the words “Am Yisrael Chai” — “The people of Israel live.”
Israeli ambassador to Berlin backs Merz
Speaking in Berlin on Tuesday, Israel’s ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor contradicted Smotrich, calling Merz a “great friend of Israel” in an interview with Israeli broadcaster Kan.
“It is possible and entirely legitimate to argue with the Germans — especially on this day, which is very emotional,” said Prosor. However, he added that statements such as those made by Smotrich were “exactly what undermines the memory of the Holocaust and presents things in a completely distorted light.”
In other words, Prosor — who himself often forcefully counters critics of Israel in German debates about Israel’s policies — accused Smotrich of instrumentalizing the mass murder of the Jews.
The unprecedented attack by an Israeli minister on the chancellor was foreshadowed just over three weeks ago, during a similar confrontation. In late March, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar reacted sharply to a post on X by Steffen Seibert, the German ambassador to Israel.
In his post, Seibert mentioned, among other things, Israeli settler violence against Palestinian villagers in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967.
Seibert, whose term in Tel Aviv ends this summer, is not usually a critic of Israeli policy. For the former spokesperson of Chancellor Angela Merkel, his post from Israel seemed more like a matter of the heart. He has learned Hebrew and vigorously advocated efforts to secure the release of the hostages who were abducted in Israel by Hamas terrorists based in Gaza.
Growing estrangement between Germany, Israel
What has unfolded on X in recent weeks isn’t just an example of the inflammatory tone typical of social media — it also reflects a growing estrangement between Germany and Israel, one which began well before October 7, 2023.
The first example is the lack of recent government consultations between the two nations. Germany and Israel held their first government consultations in 2008. Earlier that year, Chancellor Merkel spoke in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel — the first German head of government to do so. And she did so in German.
Some Israeli parliamentarians walked out of the chamber. Netanyahu, then leader of the opposition, criticized the fact that Merkel had appeared at all.
The format of these government consultations — in which the heads of government and all ministers take part — is regarded as a sign of exceptionally close cooperation. Germany holds such consultations with around a dozen countries. However, the seventh and so far last German‑Israeli consultations took place in 2018, eight years ago. Only with Russia and Turkey has the hiatus between consultations been longer.
Then, in October 2025, Merz distanced himself from the term “reason of state,” which, from the German perspective, had been in use at least since Merkel’s 2008 statement. For Merkel, it referred to Germany’s “special political responsibility” for Israel’s security. Merz told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that he had always struggled with the term, “because all of its implications have never been fully spelled out.”
Ever since then, the question of how Germany should concretely define its responsibility toward Israel has been discussed more frequently, including criticism of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war and debate over German arms exports to Israel. The more theoretical question of whether Germany would participate in an international peacekeeping force for Gaza, however, has not been discussed.
Finally, Israel and Germany have long agreed that they do not agree on the question of a two‑state solution. Time and again, spokespeople for the German Foreign Ministry have described new Israeli settlement projects in the occupied West Bank as violations of international law.
The Israeli government has explicitly rejected statehood for the Palestinians. With Israel’s ever‑expanding settlements, the possibilities for a Palestinian state are steadily diminishing. The United Nations also regards the disputed Israeli settlements as a major obstacle to a peace agreement. Palestinian civilians have repeatedly been killed in attacks by radical Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages.
It was against that backdrop that Merz expressed his concern — and was promptly attacked by the Israeli finance minister.
Following Smotrich’s criticism of Merz, the British daily The Guardian quoted an expert on Israel from the International Crisis Group, a Brussels‑based nongovernmental organization.
Mairav Zonszein explained on X that the reason the Israeli government had repeatedly attacked Germany was “for invoking the basic human rights of Palestinians,” adding that “they do so even at the expense of alienating their strongest European ally.”
Zonszein called on the German government to reconsider its course toward the Netanyahu government.
This article was originally written in German.
