Ramallah, West Bank — Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul delivered a rare and public diplomatic slap to Israel on Thursday, condemning the country’s brazen West Bank annexation ambitions and denouncing its silent encouragement of settler terror against Palestinians as both immoral and illegal.
On his visit to the occupied Palestinian territories, Wadephul did not mince words. Speaking in Taybeh, a Christian Palestinian town that recently suffered from Israeli settler arson targeting the revered Church of St. George, the German minister declared that Israel’s expansionist agenda in the West Bank will “never be recognized by Berlin”. His comments, which came during escalating violence by settlers backed by Israeli state policy, drew a sharp line between Germany’s historical allegiance to Israel and the international legal consensus demanding an end to occupation.
In a tone unusually frank for a senior Western official, Wadephul called for criminal prosecution of settlers, describing their rampages as acts of terror that violate international law and fundamental human dignity. He pressed Israeli officials to rein in these lawless militias, many of whom act with impunity and under the watchful eye — or tacit approval — of the Israeli military. “We must not allow the rule of law to be replaced with the rule of force,” he said, before visiting Palestinian civilians who have faced forced displacement and religious desecration.
While Wadephul reaffirmed Germany’s adherence to a so-called “two-state solution,” he poured cold water on premature recognition of Palestinian statehood, instead emphasizing negotiations — an increasingly hollow suggestion as Israeli bulldozers redraw borders by brute force. His remarks, however, carried a tone of urgency rarely heard from Berlin, warning that continued annexation would isolate Israel not just politically, but morally within the global community.
Despite decades of diplomatic fence-sitting by European powers, Germany’s shift signals rising discontent even among Israel’s long-standing defenders. Tel Aviv’s escalation of settler attacks — ranging from home demolitions to torching religious sites — is rapidly alienating allies in the West, and Wadephul’s remarks may mark the first fissures in what has long been an unshakable front of European silence. The message is now clear: Israeli apartheid policies and settler colonialism are no longer diplomatically sustainable.
Adding weight to his visit, Wadephul announced €5 million in additional humanitarian aid to Gaza via the UN’s World Food Programme — funding that Tel Aviv continues to restrict under its suffocating siege. The move, while modest, further underscored Germany’s discomfort with Israel’s war crimes and collective punishment strategy in the blockaded enclave.
This rare moment of moral clarity from a Western official was amplified by dual coverage across state and independent press. According to Press TV, Wadephul’s remarks included a stark condemnation of Israel’s attempts to annex the West Bank and enforce its sovereignty through settler militancy.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Mehr News Agency quoted him directly urging Tel Aviv to “stop the settlers” and demanded justice for those affected by the arson and violent expulsions, particularly in Palestinian Christian communities.
Germany’s new tone, while cautious, offers a stark contrast to Washington’s unapologetic funding of Israel’s war machine. As the Genocide in Gaza unfolds under the cloak of “self-defense,” Berlin’s growing discomfort may force a long-overdue reckoning within Western capitals — one that exposes the hollowness of their so-called human rights commitments when confronted with Israeli impunity.
