Steffen Seibert: Gaza won’t sever special Germany-Israel ties

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus. Each Friday, join host diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. Last week, Germany failed to secure a temporary seat on the powerful United Nations Security Council. There were several theories about the reason for Berlin's failure, but Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul offered a striking one — that it could be that Germany's support for Israel cost it the coveted seat. Germany is indeed one of Israel's closest allies in the world, and has been for decades. At the same time, the special relationship Israel enjoys with Berlin -- like its ties with other key allies -- has come under strain in the wars it has pursued in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. In August 2025, Germany announced a partial arms embargo on Israel over its decision to conquer Gaza City. To discuss the roots and the state of the Germany-Israel relationship, German Ambassador Steffen Seibert joined the podcast, weeks before he wraps up his four-year tenure and returns to Berlin. He rejects the idea that Germany's approach to Israel is guided by "Holocaust guilt." Instead, he says that the Shoah is a compass for Germany, which has the responsibility to learn the appropriate lessons from that dark period and let them guide its foreign policy. Seibert stresses that the Germany-Israel relationship is also rooted in shared democratic values and common interests. At the same time, he emphasizes that the special relationship exists within the pre-1967 borders, and that it sees Israel's presence in the West Bank as a violation of international law. On the war in Gaza, Seibert calls Israel's military response "inevitable and logical." Still, he says, there are questions over "how it was fought, how long it was fought." Still, he says that Hamas bears the main responsibility for the plight of Gazans. Seibert explains that Germany's decision not to intervene on Israel's behalf in the ICJ genocide case against Israel is a tactical move, as Berlin faces its own charges over its support for Israel: "It changes the assessment that we took at the beginning of the conflict. It's to do with the court case that we find ourselves in." Turning to the Iran war, Seibert says the Israeli-US campaign was "definitely understandable," but that continued fighting won't achieve much, and that it is now time to turn military gains into a political arrangement. Seibert, who learned Hebrew during his tenure, says that he is not sure what he will do next, but intends to continue spending time in Israel while he works to "reinvent" himself in the next phase of his career. **Lazar Focus** ***can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Gabriella Jacobs and video edited by Ari Schlacht.*** See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.