Since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in 2023, Staatsräson has re-entered daily political debate. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/ AFP via Getty Images
German chancellor Friedrich Merz has changed Berlin’s stance towards Israel since the October 7th Hamas-led attacks, insisting Germany’s sense of historical responsibility for Israel applies to the state and not its government.
Mr Merz told the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that Israel’s security “was and would remain” an important part of German foreign policy.
However, it was up to each German government “to reassess, in light of the situation in the Middle East, how we can best live up to t
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