Sa’ar slams German envoy for condemning settler violence in post on Israeli war casualties

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Sunday accused German Ambassador Steffen Seibert of harboring a malign “obsession” for settlers, after the envoy mentioned Jewish attacks on West Bank Palestinians in a social media post bemoaning Israeli casualties of the war with Iran.

“A day of outrage and sadness,” Seibert wrote on X, noting the “hundreds injured by Iran’s missiles” in southern and central Israel, as well as the death of Ofer Moskovitz, who was killed Sunday when a projectile hit his car in northern Israel’s Kibbutz Misgav Am.

Seibert attributed Moskovitz’s killing to Lebanon’s Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah, which claimed the attack, though the IDF was probing the possibility that the farmer was accidentally killed by Israeli artillery.

Seibert went on: “And in a parallel reality: the violent settler rampage in Palestinian villages following the tragic and to-be-investigated death of one of their own.” He was referring to violence that followed the death of Yehuda Sherman, 18, who was hit by a Palestinian car in the West Bank on Saturday.

Officials have said they were investigating whether the incident was a terror attack or a traffic accident.

Responding to Seibert, Sa’ar wrote on X that he was looking forward to the ambassador’s replacement.

“Ambassador Seibert finds it very difficult to condemn attacks against Israelis without bringing up the Palestinians. His obsession with Jews living in Judea and Samaria prevents him from even condemning the death of a Jew caused by a Palestinian. Good to know that a new ambassador will soon arrive — one who will strengthen Israel-Germany relations,” Sa’ar wrote on X.

“Dear Minister,” Seibert responded, “I have publicly condemned Iran‘s random targeting of Israeli civilians and the criminal use of cluster bombs. Germany is clear on that. We stand with Israel in this war. Settler violence also concerns us greatly, as it does the Israeli president and other leaders.”

Instances of settler violence, which have soared since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, are reported daily, but rarely prosecuted.

Seibert, who learned Hebrew during his tenure, is expected to retire this summer and be replaced by Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Germany’s current ambassador to Russia.

Germany is one of Israel’s closest security and diplomatic allies, with German leaders sometimes describing support for the Jewish state as a moral imperative after the Holocaust perpetrated by their country.

Earlier this month, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadepuhl made the first diplomatic trip to Israel since the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize the Islamic Republic’s regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

While Germany has expressed support for the aims of the Iran war, it warned Israel not to launch a ground operation in Lebanon, after Israel pushed troops deeper into the country and launched massive strikes there in response to Hezbollah’s renewal of rocket attacks on Israel on March 2.