Germany's position toward Israel has become a political dilemma like never before

Despite the new government's willingness to criticize Israel's Gaza war conduct, Israel has yet to face any repercussions from Germany. Eventually, Chancellor Friedrich Merz will have to choose between empty threats or safeguarding humanitarian law

Change was Friedrich Merz's biggest promise when he campaigned to become the chancellor of Germany. The times of hesitation and stagnation would be over, he promised, when his party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) would take the lead. No more of the quarrels that finally brought the downfall of what Germans refer to as the traffic-light coalition – the union of left-liberal-green parties, most recently led by former chancellor Olaf Scholz. Merz instead vowed to move things forward and to move fast.

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