German hesitation on Gaza could encourage atrocities, Israeli academics say

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BERLIN (Reuters) -More than 100 Israeli academics have warned in a letter that a failure by Germany to put pressure on Israel could lead to new atrocities in Gaza.

“Further hesitation on Germany’s part threatens to enable new atrocities – and undermines the lessons learnt from its own history,” the academics wrote in the letter, addressed to senior Social Democrat (SPD) lawmakers Rolf Muetzenich and Adis Ahmetovic and seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

On July 22, the two men, whose party is in the ruling coalition, had called for Germany to join an international coalition pushing for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, sanctions against Israel and a suspension of weapons deliveries.

The German government – comprising the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the SPD – has sharpened its criticism of Israel over the manmade humanitarian catastrophe visited on Gaza’s 2 million people, but has yet to announce any major policy change.

Israel denies having a policy of starvation in Gaza, and says the Hamas militant group, responsible for an operation that killed 1,200 people in Israel in October 2023 and took hundreds more hostage, could end the crisis by surrendering.

Critics argue that Germany’s response to the war has been overly cautious, mostly owing to an enduring sense of guilt for the Nazi Holocaust, weakening the West’s collective ability to put pressure on Israel.

“If over 100 Israeli academics are calling for an immediate change of course … then it’s high time we took visible action,” Ahmetovic told the public broadcaster ARD.

Britain, Canada and France have signalled their readiness to recognise a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory at the United Nations General Assembly this September.

(Reporting by Markus Wacket, Writing by Friederike Heine; Editing by Kevin Liffey)