Scholz appeals to Netanyahu's conscience during visit to Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) stand at lecterns in front of the flags of Israel, the EU and Germany, Israel, March 2024
'We cannot stand by and watch Palestinians risk starvation. That is not what we stand for,' Scholz said

German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, openly questioned Israel's military actions during the Gaza war in light of the high number of casualties during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At a joint press conference, Scholz stressed that Israel has the right to defend itself against the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group but suggested that Netanyahu reconsider his strategy in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu, however, insisted that he and his German guest agreed that "Hamas must be eliminated." He argued that there would be no peace as long as Hamas remained in Gaza.

"We cannot have a future for Gaza, a future for peace, a future for Israel if Hamas, a terrorist organisation committed to our genocide, remains intact," Netanyahu said. "If it remains intact, it will regroup and reconquer the Gaza Strip and repeat the massacre again and again and again."

Scholz responded that the victims of the October 7 attack would not be forgotten. "Our message has been clear: Israel has a right to defend itself against the terrorism of Hamas, and all hostages must be released. This cruel crime must end now," he said.

But the German chancellor also noted the "extremely high cost in human lives" and said he had shared his concerns with Netanyahu. While Israel was pursuing a legitimate goal of never again October 7, the question had to be asked whether, no matter how important the goal, could it justify such terribly high costs.

"We cannot stand by and watch Palestinians risk starvation. That is not what we stand for," Scholz said. He called for a deal on releasing the hostages "with a longer-lasting ceasefire." In the five months or so of the Gaza war, the number of civilian casualties "is extremely high, many would argue, much too high," Scholz added.

Turning to the situation in Lebanon, Scholz said that Hezbollah had to withdraw from the border with Israel and that military escalation there would have "unforeseeable consequences."

After talks in Jordan earlier on Sunday, Scholz had called for an urgent ceasefire. He met with Jordan's King Abdullah in the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba.

Scholz also came out against an Israeli ground offensive into Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

"It is absolutely clear that we now have to do everything to prevent the situation becoming worse than it already is," Scholz said. "I believe that a large number of casualties from an offensive of this kind would make all peaceful development extremely difficult," he said. "Many people in Israel as well know this."

Netanyahu again defiantly rejected international calls for an end to the Gaza War and stuck by plans for a ground attack on Rafah.

Scholz's meeting with Netanyahu centred in part on Israeli preparations to attack Rafah, which is crammed with more than 1 million Palestinians who had fled attacks elsewhere in Gaza, and the German chancellor's urgent warning against such an attack.

In addition to meeting with Netanyahu, Scholz planned to meet with President Isaac Herzog, Minister Benny Gantz, and relatives of hostages in Jerusalem.

Rafah lies directly on the border with Egypt, and many of the people now living there are sheltering in tents and other provisional accommodations.

King Abdullah warned of the "tragic" humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip during his meeting with Scholz, the Jordanian royal court said, and underlined the importance of intensified efforts to protect civilians and provide "adequate and sustainable" aid to people in the densely populated Gaza Strip.

The king "stressed the necessity of the international community to reach an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the strip," the court added in a statement.

Referring to a planned resumption of indirect talks on a provisional ceasefire, Scholz said that the possibility of a longer ceasefire needed to be firmed up.

The Jordanian king also called for standing firm against what he called extremist Jewish settlers' violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and violations against Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem.

Jordan is the official custodian of Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. The war in Gaza was triggered on October 7 by a bloody terrorist attack on Israel led by Hamas militants and other extremist groups.

Although Germany supports the Israeli military operation against Hamas in principle, it has criticised the conduct of the war, which has already claimed the lives of many thousands of civilians.

A ceasefire that lasts "for the foreseeable future" is needed, Scholz said before his departure on Saturday. (dpa)