German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 210/131, pp. 16344-16345.
Right honorable Frau President. Right honorable ladies and gentlemen. Dear citizens.
One almost feels returned back to February 2022 and the subsequent time. The world security situation has again intensified, and again a new war is ignited. Each war situation is different; similar consequences nevertheless yield death, destruction, flight and suffering. We thus mourn with the relatives of all innocent victims of this war. I also want to wish the relatives present all the best, united with a hope that they can again enclose their loved ones in their arms.
We most sharply condemn the attack of Hamas on Israel. For the murder and kidnapping of civilians, there is no justification, on any side. We all therefore need to endeavor to avoid one thing: That the war in the Near East powder keg not be allowed to expand into a wildfire. To that also pertains resisting the war incitement and, even when it is awkward, to give a voice to diplomacy. And yes, Israel self-evidently is allowed to defend itself against attack. The right of self-defense is provided for in international law and is coherent with the UN Charter. Yet Israel in this regard needs to pay heed to proportionality. Humanitarian catastrophes are not permitted to arise, and the regional states need to avert this escalation. The Federal government therefore needs to work helpfully and supportively, instead of further heating up the atmosphere.
Chancellor Scholz this time proceeds in exactly this way. With his visits in Tel Aviv and Cairo, he has shown that negotiation and mediation are the order of the hour. The basic provision for the civil population in Israel and Palestine is to be secured. Hamas must free its hostages, and the Federal government needs to commit itself to the immediate release and secure return of removed Germans. For that, you so far have done too little.
I am nevertheless concerned over voices which push outward from the Union delegation. Herr Merz, you have spoken of “jargon”. It appears here as if one simply could not wait for the intensification of the war. Colleague Kiesewetter blusters through the world with his words, We should be ready “to defend Israel’s security with our lives”. This verbal warmongering, which is a matter of discord even in the CDU, we hitherto knew in the Ukraine war only from the Free Democrats, from Frau Strack-Zimmermann. For my delegation and me, in the case of Israel and Palestine, it is proximately about that peace be reconstructed in this region worn down for decades by conflict. In Herr Kiesewetter’s direction: Understand please, we want peace. We do not want to send our children into a military intervention [Kriegseinsätze]. Yes, we also want solidarity. Yet your words are irresponsible and not reconcilable with our values.
Look around, how the world community reacts, and primarily at what that could mean for Germany and Europe. Politicians need to understand what happens if the Near East powder keg is set afire, what happens if Lebanon or Iran are involved in this war. Then quite quickly are the U.S.A. and the BRICS states at hand. This situation no one can or wants to put forward even just in estimates. Since how shall Israel then again be able to live in the region in security and peace? I ask everyone in the parliament to answer for himself this question and to verbally disarm.
Valued colleagues, let us also include in the situation analysis the reactions, the opinions of the the affected regions. Thus, Egyptian President el-Sisi is opposed to the resettlement of Palestinians in Sinai; the peninsula would become a base for attacks against Israel. The normalization process of Israel’s relations to Saudi Arabia is stopped. The Iranian foreign minister calls on members of the organization of Islamic cooperation for an oil embargo and for an expulsion of Israeli ambassadors. Saudi Arabia calls on its citizens to leave Lebanon. Therefore, here there is allowed no further escalation.
In this place, I demand of the Federal government to find just so clear words. Finally place in the foreground our own, the German interests! Additional or new migration waves to Europe and Germany are not in our interest. You must in any case prevent that, Herr Scholz. I ask you to work in that regard in Brussels at the European Council. Terror organizations and anti-semitism have no place in Germany. And in addition: Those posing a potential danger need to be immediately and consistently deported. Hamas and structures close to Hamas are allowed neither to be financed from Germany nor become a security risk for Germany. Therefore, finally examine a ban, and issue it in a timely fashion!
With regards to the war regions, it concerns humanitarian support and durable solution possibilities. Thus China and Russia have proposed a humanitarian ceasefire. This resolution was indeed rejected in the UN Security Council. An overriding objective – this is surely beyond an all-party consensus – is nevertheless that further deaths must be prevented. A peaceful solution must be further pursued beyond political differences. Only so will the bloodshed be ended and long-term structure projects in the region be possible. The goal of diplomacy must be to find a durable solution for long-term peace in the Near East. This also is in the German interest.
The only means which Germany, which the German Bundestag can here effect is the call for peace. The Federal government should not be able to be made co-responsible for a war in the Near East. We need an interests-led policy. We need free and peaceful commerce with oil and gas. We need trade routes and secure corridors instead of war and enmity.
Many thanks.
[trans: tem]
