Germany to resume arms exports to Israel starting next week; Sa’ar urges others to follow

By Reuters and Nava Freiberg

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17 November 2025, 11:55 am

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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (front right) walks with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in front of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Julia Kloeckner, president of the Bundestag (lower house of parliament), and Stephan Harbarth (L), president of Germany's Federal Constitutional Court in the Reichstag building in Berlin on November 16, 2025. (Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)

Germany will lift an order suspending some weapons sales to Israel beginning next week, following the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached last month, a German government spokesperson announces.

“The government will, as a general rule, revert to case-by-case reviews in decisions on arms exports and respond to further developments,” the spokesperson says.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar celebrates the decision in a post on X, urging other countries to take similar measures: “I welcome Chancellor Merz’s move to revoke the decision regarding the partial ’embargo’. I call on other governments to adopt similar decisions, following Germany.”

According to the German spokesperson, starting November 24, the decision will allow the resumption of exports that Berlin suspended in August over the Israeli cabinet’s decision to conquer Gaza City in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Germany is the second-largest arms exporter to Israel, after the United States.

The spokesperson adds that Germany remains committed to supporting a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution and will continue to engage in supporting reconstruction in Gaza.

Yesterday, Merz spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on “diplomatic and regional matters,” in what the premier’s office described as a “good and friendly conversation.”