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Justice Minister Buschmann, Foreign Minister Baerbock (on November 23, 2022 in the Bundestag)
Photo: Adam Berry/Getty Images
The Federal Foreign Office publishes travel recommendations for each country on its website.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock recently had special advice for her cabinet colleagues, which she did not make public.
According to government sources, the Greens' chief diplomat advised against visiting Israel at the cabinet meeting last Wednesday.
As a result, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann from the FDP spoke up and announced that he would visit the Jewish state in the second half of February.
According to the Ministry of Justice, Buschmann wanted to travel to Israel long before the change of government, but had to cancel the visit because of a corona disease.
One reason for the current trip is the Rosenburg exhibition on the "Federal Ministry of Justice in the shadow of the Nazi past", which the minister wants to open in Tel Aviv.
In addition, Buschmann wants to hold talks with representatives of the government, opposition and civil society.
This also includes a meeting with the new Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
The federal government has so far lacked a line towards the new Netanyahu government
But that is precisely what the Foreign Office regards as sensitive.
Levin has proposed a judicial reform that has been protested by tens of thousands of Israelis for weeks.
Among other things, the reform plans envisage disempowering the Supreme Court and giving Parliament the right to veto decisions of the Supreme Court.
The main reason for the Federal Foreign Office's skepticism about ministerial trips in the near future, however, is that the Chancellery and its ministry have not yet agreed on a line towards the new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As DER SPIEGEL learned, high-ranking officials from the Chancellery and the Foreign Office are to travel to Israel for talks in the near future, and only then will the course towards Jerusalem be determined.
For example, there is the question of whether the government consultations, which actually take place every year between the two cabinets, should continue as normal with the new government.
It is the most righteous government in Israel's history.
Religious Zionist hardliners occupy important posts in the cabinet.
For example, Itamar Ben-Gvir became Minister of National Security.
In 2007 he was convicted of inciting and supporting terrorism.
The Federal Ministry of Justice says that the trip has been coordinated with the political level of the Federal Foreign Office and the Chancellery.
It was not possible to reliably find out whether the Chancellery was more critical of the trip or supported it.
From government circles it was only said: All those involved were in good and trusting discussions for the best possible preparation of the trip.
Buschmann has not yet planned a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart.
However, the German embassy in Tel Aviv is said to have advised it in order to then openly address possible differences.
However, it is questionable how much time the Israeli justice minister takes for his German colleague – on the day of the Bushman's visit, his controversial legislative package will be debated in the Knesset.
