Status: 17.10.2023, 15:15 PM
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Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz climbs into an Air Force helicopter in the Chancellor's Garden of the Federal Chancellery to fly to the military part of the capital's BER airport. © Christoph Soeder/dpa
Israel's security is Germany's raison d'être. With a visit to the country attacked by terrorists, Federal Chancellor Scholz underlined this. There's a lot at stake.
Tel Aviv - Ten days after the devastating terrorist attack by Hamas, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has arrived in Israel for a solidarity visit. The SPD politician wants to talk to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Izhak Herzog and relatives of German Hamas hostages who have been abducted to the Gaza Strip.
Scholz wants to find out about the situation in the war zone, but also to talk about how a conflagration in the region can be prevented. In the evening, he travels on to Egypt, which is Israel's only neighboring country bordering the Gaza Strip.
Solidarity as a reason of state
It is no coincidence that Scholz is one of the first heads of government to travel to Israel. Germany has a special responsibility for Israel's security because of the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust. In 2008, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) declared it a raison d'être. Scholz has made this his own. Now it is time to show what raison d'être means in the event of a concrete attack.
Before his departure, Scholz once again gave Israel clear backing for the military strikes against Hamas. "The Hamas attack was a terrorist act that was irresponsible, that has terrible consequences, that has killed an incredible number of people and humiliated an incredible number of people. And that's why Israel has every right to defend itself."
Concrete military and humanitarian aid
The Israelis, on the other hand, have so far hardly expected military support from Germany. Two leased Israeli drones, which can also be armed, were returned by the Bundeswehr. According to the German government, Israel has now postponed an application for the delivery of ammunition for warships. But it is also about humanitarian aid for the people in the Gaza Strip, hundreds of thousands of whom have been asked by Israel to flee in the face of a possible ground offensive.
Last but not least, Scholz will seek the release of the more than 200 Hamas hostages abducted in the Gaza Strip. Among them are several Germans with whom the German government has no contact. In recent days, Scholz has already held talks with the heads of state of Qatar, Egypt and Turkey - all countries from which the Chancellor expects to exert influence on Hamas.
In Tel Aviv, Scholz also wants to meet with opposition politician Benny Gantz, who is also a member of Netanyahu's war cabinet. And he visits a distribution center for relief supplies. US President Joe Biden is also expected in Israel on Wednesday. Dpa