Germany announces new arms deliveries to Israel, rebuffs criticism

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced further arms deliveries to Israel on Thursday in a Bundestag debate marking the anniversary of the attack on Israel by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas.

"We have delivered weapons and we will deliver weapons," Scholz said.

Representatives of the opposition Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parties had criticized Scholz's government for failing to give enough support to Israel.

Speaking in the Bundestag debate, conservative CDU leader Friedrich Merz said "For weeks and months, the federal government has refused to authorize the export to Israel of ammunition, for example, and even the delivery of spare parts for tanks."

He added that "a large number of companies" had come forward with written documents showing that authorizations had been requested but not processed by the government for months. "What is this other than the de facto refusal of export licences?" he said.

Between March and August, the German government did not authorize the export of weapons of war to Israel, the Economy Ministry had revealed previously, but insisted there was no general ban on arms exports to Israel.

Scholz denied Merz's accusation: "We have made decisions in the government that will also ensure that there will be further deliveries in the near future. And then you will see that this was a false accusation."

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of the Green party emphasized the confidentiality of such decisions, which lies with the Federal Security Council within the government.

Scholz's government has also faced calls from the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party to impose a ban on arms exports to Israel - a demand that BSW lawmaker Sevim Dagdelen repeated in Thursday's Bundestag debate.