A new bilateral cybersecurity deal and the continued flow of weapons leave little ambiguity about Germany's stance: not accountability, but normalization.
“Israel has the right — and indeed the duty — to defend its citizens and its existence against those who repeatedly deny the democratic Jewish state’s right to exist.” With these words, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz opened a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in December.
The language was familiar, part of a well-established lexicon of German-Israeli diplomacy. Against the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, such phrasing now reads as a blunt reaffirmation of the countries’ “special relationship”: an assertion of Germany’s responsibility for Israel’s security and endorsement of a growing military partnership.
That symbolism has since been followed by more concrete steps. A little over a week ago, Israel and Germany signed a cybersecurity agreement to expand their existing cooperation. “I attach enormous importance to the overall cooperation between Israel and Germany,” Netanyahu said during the signing. “Israel’s enemies should know: Our eyes are on them at all times and everywhere,” read a statement on the agreement from his office.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who traveled to Israel to sign the deal, said he wanted to take Israel as a “model.” “We are relying on systematic exchange rather than ad-hoc cooperation,” Dobrindt told German media. “Israel is Germany’s most important partner outside of NATO and the EU,” his ministry stated.
According to the German newspaper Bild, the agreement includes cooperation between Germany’s elite police unit GSG 9 and the Israeli police’s counterterrorism unit, known colloquially as Yamam. This unit has carried out extrajudicial assassinations of Palestinians in the West Bank, and was also involved in Israel’s hostage rescue operation in Nuseirat refugee camp in northern Gaza in June 2024, during which four Israelis were freed and over 270 Palestinians were killed. Bild also reported plans for a joint German-Israeli AI and cybersecurity research center.
The agreement further includes Germany’s participation in the U.S.-led Office of the Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (OSC) in Jerusalem, within which Dobrindt reportedly said Germany would “take on a leadership role.” The office provides training to Palestinian police officers and “security forces” in the West Bank, with plans to extend this to Gaza. Germany is already involved in the EU Mission for the Support of Palestinian Police and Rule of Law, which is expected to expand its mandate to train police officers from Gaza as well (overall, 3,000 police units are expected to be trained by European forces). (more...)
Germany never stopped arming Israel’s genocide
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