The scope of the deal is estimated at approximately $3.1 billion and is expected to complete the sales contract that Israel and Germany signed about two years ago, valued at approximately $3.6 billion. The two deals together are estimated at approximately $6.7 billion (over 20 billion shekels), Israel's largest-ever defense export deal.

Defense Ministry Director-General Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram said, "The Arrow deal expansion is another significant milestone in the deepening strategic relations between Israel and Germany, our central partner in Europe. The massive deal, valued at over $3 billion, embodies, in practical terms, the Defense Ministry's strategy to increase defense exports. The deal will strengthen Israel's position in the world as a defense superpower, will expand and accelerate Arrow production for the IDF as well, and will channel billions into strengthening the defense industries and developing the next generations of defense systems."

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Also on Thursday, France announced a new voluntary military service program for young people, due to launch in mid-2026, aimed at strengthening the country's capabilities in the face of what officials describe as accelerating global threats.

Germany began drafting its plan, known as OPLAN DEU, at a special military gathering held roughly two and a half years ago at a base near Berlin. The classified document maps out the routes for moving NATO forces eastward through ports, rivers, rail lines and roads, as well as the methods for supplying and protecting those forces.

Thanks to its geography and central position on the continent, Germany would become a critical logistical hub in any major conflict with Russia, serving as the main corridor for NATO troops heading east. Look at the map, said Tim Stuchtey, head of the Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security. With the Alps forming a natural barrier, NATO forces will have to cross Germany in any clash with Russia, regardless of where hostilities begin.

According to the report, the plan outlines a comprehensive approach to war that seeks to mobilize society and civilian infrastructure for a battlefield effort. It amounts to a return to Cold War thinking, while grappling with new challenges such as aging infrastructure, insufficient legislation and much smaller Western armies than in past decades.

The Journal noted that German officials believe Russia will be ready and willing to strike NATO in 2029. Yet multiple incidents across Europe involving espionage, sabotage attacks and airspace intrusions, many attributed to Moscow, suggest Russia could prepare for an attack even earlier. Analysts quoted in the report warned that a possible cease-fire in Ukraine might free up Russian time and resources to plan a move against NATO countries.

The planners argue that strengthening Europe's resilience would not only ensure victory but also reduce the likelihood of war. "The goal is to prevent war by making clear to our enemies that if they attack us, they will not succeed," a senior officer involved in drafting the plan told the newspaper.

The report describes an exercise held this fall in eastern Germany in which Rheinmetall, the country's largest defense company, built a temporary camp for 500 soldiers including housing, showers, fuel stations, a field kitchen and anti-drone protection. The camp was constructed in 14 days and dismantled in seven. Imagine building a small town from scratch and taking it down within days, said Rheinmetall's Marc Lemmermann.

But the drill also exposed shortcomings. The site was too small for all the vehicles, and the land plots were not adjacent, forcing troops to shuttle back and forth. The plan faces additional challenges such as cumbersome procurement rules, rigid information laws and regulations not adapted for wartime conditions.

"We have to relearn what we once knew", said Deputy Defense Minister Nils Schmid. "We need to bring people out of retirement to remind us how we used to do this."

The article highlights the deterioration of Germany's military preparedness since the end of the Cold War. Whereas highway segments were once designed to double as emergency landing strips, jet fuel tanks were buried beneath parking lots, and guardrails could be removed within minutes, the years since have brought new tunnels and bridges that are too narrow or too weak for military convoys.

Germany's existing infrastructure has also decayed. Officials in Berlin estimate that 20 percent of the Autobahn network and more than a quarter of bridges require repair. North Sea and Baltic ports need an estimated 15 billion euros in upgrades, including 3 billion for military-related improvements.

Another exercise in September underscored Europe's unpreparedness. The drill, known as Red Storm Bravo, was meant to simulate on a small scale the massive troop movements envisioned by the German plan. Five hundred NATO soldiers were supposed to land at a port and travel east in convoy. But things quickly went wrong. Protesters, who were actually reservists, jumped from bushes and glued themselves to the road. The soldiers were not permitted to remove them, and police realized they lacked the tools to do so. It took two hours before the convoy could move again, ultimately covering only about ten kilometers.

The threat is not theoretical. Earlier this month, damage was discovered on the Warsaw-Lublin rail line, a critical route for delivering military aid to Ukraine. An investigation found that an explosive device had been detonated remotely, with suspicion directed at Russia. The chief of staff of Poland's military, Gen. Wieslaw Kukula, said the enemy has begun preparations for war, adding that the situation is not war but pre-war, or what many call hybrid war. Poland has attributed the sabotage to Russia.

The German and French measures are part of a broader European trend. In March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled an 800-billion-euro rearmament program. "We are in an era of rearmament", she said. Europe is prepared to increase defense spending massively: at a NATO summit in The Hague in June, alliance members agreed to raise their defense-spending target from 2 percent to 5 percent of GDP by 2035.

France's announcement on Thursday came as President Emmanuel Macron introduced a new voluntary military service program for 18- to 19-year-olds. Scheduled to begin in mid-2026, the program will run for ten months and cost 2 billion euros. It will initially recruit 3,000 participants, rising to 10,000 by 2030, with Macron hoping to reach 50,000 by 2036.

The French move followed an announcement earlier this month by Germany's governing coalition parties, who agreed on a new voluntary-based recruitment model, leaving open the possibility of mandatory service if volunteer numbers fall short. Macron made clear that France will not follow that path. There is no going back to the days of conscription, he said. This hybrid army model fits the threats and risks we face. France aims to reach 100,000 reservists by 2030, up from about 47,000 today.

Macron's announcement came as controversy erupted over remarks made last week by France's chief of staff, Gen. Fabien Mandon, who said France must be prepared to lose its children to deter Russia. What we lack is the strength of spirit to endure hardship to defend who we are, he told a gathering of mayors.

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This impressive architecture, planted in the symbolic and geographic heart of Europe, is certainly inspiring. But it would take no more than a single Russian explosive drone for all the handsome glass panes of Germany's parliamentary complex to shatter at once. "The problem is that we are sitting in a building that is not properly protected against a drone attack," says Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of parliament from the Christian Democratic Union, speaking on the sixth floor of Paul Löbe House. "The idea behind the design of this building, which was constructed in the 1990s, was to embody the value of transparency in Germany's political system. But this transparency also translates into extreme vulnerability and a lack of fear of danger. By the way, only some of the rooms here are protected against outside eavesdropping. In fact, if someone wanted to, they could be listening to us right now."

If some spy did indeed listen in to our conversation, nothing he heard would have surprised him. Kiesewetter, a former German Army colonel who entered politics in 2009, is considered the most "security-minded" politician in Germany. Ever since Russia's seizure of Crimea in 2014, he has used every possible platform to warn about the Russian threat and to urge the German leadership to adopt a more hawkish approach to the possibility of an armed clash with Moscow.

Kiesewetter's alarmism has not won him many fans, and even inside his own governing party he is seen as an outsider, some would say a thorn in its side. Unlike in Israeli politics, where a security background almost automatically translates into votes at the ballot box, in Germany, a country still grappling with its past and whose current DNA is deeply hostile to war in all its forms, the security-focused discourse Kiesewetter promotes has led to his removal from prominent party roles. It has even made him the target of a violent assault by a citizen who knocked him down while calling him a "warmonger," perhaps the harshest epithet one can direct at a German politician.

"The pillars of German society are politics, the economy and science," Kiesewetter explains. "We have a political culture of distrust toward security professionals, combined with deep ignorance in this field. It is no coincidence that since German reunification, politicians with a military background have disappeared from the stage. When I came into politics, not everyone was happy about it."

Kiesewetter is not particularly liked in the Kremlin either. He says that he appears on a Russian secret list of figures considered a threat to its security. "We have to tell the public the truth," he says. "If we do not take steps against Russian aggression in Europe, Russia will keep pushing our boundaries. We are acting like blind people."

Prisoners of conception

Kiesewetter's story, and the fragility of Germany's parliamentary complex, illustrate the state of Europe as a whole. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the continent has found itself caught between a hammer and an anvil. On the one hand, European states are doing their utmost to preserve stability, refraining from fully throwing their weight behind Ukraine and doing everything they can to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia. On the other hand, these same countries are looking anxiously eastward and seeing Russia arming itself to the teeth, and its president, Vladimir Putin, growing bolder and issuing ever more far-reaching statements. All this is happening while Europe still depends economically on Russian energy, and while the US is seeking to reduce the vast budgets it has been channeling to NATO, the military alliance meant to protect Europe against a third world war. "It is as if we are fighting Putin with one hand tied behind our back," complains Kiesewetter.

European anxiety about war diminishes the further west and south one moves across the continent. Poland and the Baltic states, which border or are close to Russia, are already making preparations on the ground for the possibility of an all-out war. In France, Britain and Spain, by contrast, preparations for such a clash are proceeding at a snail's pace, if at all. In this sense Germany, the economic giant located in the middle of Europe yet still at a safe distance from the Russian border, and the country meant to serve as NATO's main logistical base in any campaign to block Russia, acts as litmus paper for the European policy as a whole. "Germany is in the middle, and it is the one that needs to take responsibility and set the course," says Kiesewetter.

The German government has already begun taking a series of steps, some of them drastic by its standards, to prepare for a potential confrontation with Russia. Yet Kiesewetter remains uneasy. He says the German leadership is still trapped in what Israelis might call "an October 6 mindset": ignoring clear warning signs, turning its back on violations of sovereignty and assuming that if and when war breaks out, there will be advance notice. "It may be that Germany first needs to experience an intelligence failure like October 7 or September 11 in order to wake up and change its approach," Kiesewetter says. "I just hope that when such a failure occurs, if it does, it will not lead to a catastrophe on a massive scale."

Indeed, during a visit to Berlin last week it was impossible to ignore the quiet. Even the city's most central streets felt hushed. It is not a tense silence born of alertness, of ears pricked for sirens or explosions, but the calm of German politeness, which seems to rub off on the tourists as well. Even the official German figures we spoke to, who are well briefed on the intelligence picture, struggled to imagine that this quiet might suddenly be shattered. "Do you really believe that a Russian drone will suddenly land in the middle of Berlin?" one of them asked me in astonishment, scrutinizing my face. "This mindset of constantly fearing your neighbors is an Israeli mindset. In Europe things are different."

And yet, Germany in the autumn of 2025 is a country in the throes of a Zeitenwende, the "turning of the times," the term coined by former chancellor Olaf Scholz in a landmark speech he delivered in parliament days after Russia invaded Ukraine. This week the current German defense minister, Boris Pistorius, declared that "this is Europe's last peaceful summer." As one Israeli official who knows the intricacies of German politics puts it, "Germany is in the middle of a U-turn by an aircraft carrier. This is a state that is cutting itself off from economic dependence on Russia, arming itself and working on a law to reinstate compulsory military service, which is a radical change for it. And yet Kiesewetter is right. If war with Russia breaks out tomorrow, Germany currently has nothing to put on the table."

Grasping at air

In many ways, the war between Russia and Europe has already begun, and it is not confined to the borders of Ukraine. The buzzword on this front, almost a mantra in the mouths of politicians, officials and experts in Germany, Israel and other European countries, is "hybrid warfare."

The term refers to a long, ongoing string of sabotage incidents, influence operations, cyberattacks and other violent acts that Russia is carrying out against European states. It covers, for example, the mysterious severing of undersea communications cables in the Baltic Sea; an unusual explosion at the cargo terminal of Leipzig Airport in Germany; and media investigations that uncovered evidence of Russian use of agents recruited via social media to sow chaos and public panic in European countries.

A recent report by the British think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) found that since 2022, 66 "hybrid warfare" operations attributed to Russia have been carried out across Europe, including assassinations, attacks on infrastructure and even acts of terrorism. Thirty three of those operations took place in 2024 alone. In most cases, European governments preferred to absorb the blows, to make use of the carefully constructed Russian "deniability space," and to settle for tepid condemnations.

In recent months, however, the hybrid war with Russia has shifted up a gear. Russian fighter jets violated Estonian airspace, even swooping toward a German warship sailing in the Baltic Sea. In September, some 20 Russian drones crossed into Polish territory, also a NATO member state. "This is an attempt by the Kremlin to test NATO's responses via gradual escalations," Poland's foreign minister said afterward. Friedrich Merz, Germany's current chancellor, also broke with his habitual caution when he stated that "we are not at war, but we are not in a state of peace either." Since then, Russian drones have entered the territory of another NATO member, Romania, without prompting any military response.

In the weeks that followed, several incidents were recorded in which unmanned aerial vehicles were seen hovering above towns and cities in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and Lithuania, among others, sometimes near airports and sensitive military facilities. German officials said these were "military drones for intelligence-gathering purposes," but did not explicitly link them to Moscow. In early October, airspace over Munich was closed, forcing dozens of flights to be canceled, after mysterious drones were spotted above the city during the Oktoberfest celebrations. In the aftermath, European interior ministers discussed creating a "drone wall" that would block aerial incursions from the direction of Russia, as well as legislative changes that would make it easier for armed forces to shoot down unmanned aircraft.

Ukraine first

These hesitant countermeasures stand in sharp contrast to Russia's rapid advances when it comes to drones. Over the past two years, Russia has raised its defense budget to levels unseen since the Cold War, and a large share of that money has gone to producing unmanned aircraft, the main weapon it is using in Ukraine. According to some estimates, by early 2026 Russia will be able to produce roughly 10,000 explosive drones a month, which would make it a global power in this sphere. Israelis will bring to mind the "Iranian night of missiles," when some 300 missiles and drones were launched at Israel. Now multiply that several times over.

Behind Russia's drone industry lies a story whose irony almost defies gravity, in every sense. In 2011, Iran used electronic warfare to take control of a CIA drone operating over Afghanistan and bring it down on its territory. Based on this "captured" American UAV, Iranian engineers developed the Shahed series of attack drones, whose most widely used model is the Shahed 136. As fate would have it, the engines installed in the early generation of these Iranian drones were made in Germany. "We know this, because engines manufactured by a German company were found in some of the drones that fell in Israel," says an Israeli official.

After the war in Ukraine broke out, cooperation between Russia and Iran tightened. Russia purchased thousands of Shahed drones from the Islamic Republic, and used them in Ukraine. The war turned out to be a highly useful testing ground from Russia's point of view. A study by the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) in the US described how, in the battle of minds that developed in the skies over Ukraine, the Russians began devising methods that refined their drone warfare capabilities, perhaps as preparation for future wars against additional countries.

In recent months, Russia has begun producing Shahed drones itself, according to one account with extensive help from China, while simultaneously improving their strike capabilities and flight ranges. The main drone production facility is in Yelabuga, about 1,000 kilometers east of Moscow, which the Ukrainians have tried and failed to hit several times.

"The Russians started out by producing the same model as the Iranian drone and gradually improved it," says Eitan Achlow, an expert in anti-drone defense. "This is an aircraft that flies low, at a speed of 80 to 100 knots, and carries warheads containing 10 to 50 kilograms (22 to 110 pounds) of explosives. Because many of its parts are made of fiberglass, it is hard to detect. The Russians have recently been changing the engine in order to mask the hot exhaust, which will make it harder to spot the drones with thermal sensors. They are also altering its antenna array to complicate the communications and navigation jamming the Ukrainians use, and increasing its flight speed. Today the Russians are manufacturing these drones at a murderous pace."

As part of Russia's method of warfare in Ukraine, it launches swarms of hundreds of explosive drones at once, with dummy drones mixed into the swarm. These carry no explosives and have cardboard bodies. The aim is to confuse the enemy's air defenses, and to do so at relatively low cost. "The attack drones cost around 30,000 to 40,000 dollars each, and the dummy drones cost a few thousand," Achlow estimates, "while the interceptor missiles cost millions. This is essentially an economic battle. Once the Russians accumulate a sufficiently large number of drones, they will be able to go to war against NATO, because there is no force in the world that can intercept such quantities. Imagine that Russia decides to invade one of the Baltic states and then suddenly, just as a warning shot, it launches 5,000 drones and a handful of them hit government buildings or financial institutions in a European capital. That would make it crystal clear to Europe that it has no real way of dealing with this."

Firing in all directions

The developments on the eastern front have not entirely escaped the attention of European states, especially Germany. In fact, the government of Chancellor Merz, who took office in May 2025, has begun implementing what looks like a far-reaching reform to strengthen Germany's military.

Already during coalition talks, the parties agreed that the additional spending on the German defense budget would not be counted as part of the national deficit. That decision enabled the government to allocate a staggering 377 billion euros for military procurement, with the goal of turning Germany's armed forces into "the strongest conventional army in Europe," in Merz's words. German officials confirm that the government recognizes that "Russia is planning something, and our armed forces are not ready," as one of them puts it.

Israel has naturally been drawn into this swirl of spending. Beyond the huge deal to purchase the Arrow 3 missile defense system from Israel Aerospace Industries, Germany has bought Spike anti-tank missiles from Israel and, according to media reports, drones as well. Beneath the surface, however, a long list of negotiations is underway between the German government and Israeli defense companies and security startups to acquire additional systems on a very large scale. "This is a window of opportunity for Israel to provide technology to Germany," says an Israeli source familiar with the issue, "because in a few years, Germany's own defense industry will catch up with Israel, and right now Berlin wants off-the-shelf solutions."

According to air defense expert Achlow, who is a member of one such defense startup, Israel must make things easier for startups working in this field, both by providing financial incentives and by easing restrictions imposed by the Defense Ministry's Defense Export Controls Agency. "Unlike the civilian high-tech sector, Israeli defense exports are shackled by regulation," he explains. "If nobody wakes up, Israeli companies will move abroad or quit the field altogether. We could miss a golden opportunity for the economy."

Israeli and German officials involved in these negotiations refuse to divulge details. "But Israel has advanced weapons systems, and you can imagine that Germany wants many of them," says one. An Israeli source who recently met with senior figures in the German defense establishment came away with the impression that, in terms of procurement, they are "firing in all directions." "In Germany they are watching Russia's rearmament with concern and are already examining the buildup of Russian forces near the borders with the Baltic states," he says. "The problem is that Germany still faces huge gaps, mainly in training and manpower."

Which brings us to one of Europe's biggest security challenges: soldiers, or more precisely, the lack of them. The German parliament is currently debating legislative amendments that would allow the state to reinstate compulsory military service, out of the recognition that buying equipment alone is not enough, and that soldiers are needed to operate it. Beyond the political hurdles facing such legislation, there are social factors that make it difficult for the German Army to increase its ranks. As one interviewee put it, "The Ukrainians enlisted en masse, but they did so because they had no choice after the Russian invasion. Do you really think young Europeans will give up their comfortable lives and rush off to die fighting Russians?"

A generation passes

This concern is well founded. A poll published in August 2025 found that 59 percent of Germans would not be willing to take up arms and fight, and in Italy the figure is even lower: only 16 percent of citizens would be ready to fight for their country.

On this point, Prof. Susanne Fischer, a lecturer in the intelligence studies department at the Federal University of Applied Administration in Berlin, says: "There is now a public debate about the need to bring back compulsory service, which would require young people to enlist in the army after high school. This debate has intensified as the possibility of war with Russia has become more concrete."

Fischer teaches and lives in Berlin, but we met at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where she was attending an annual intelligence studies conference. Talking to her, one gets the impression that even if the German government has begun taking steps toward a possible clash with Russia, the German public is still largely lagging far behind. "As a Berlin resident and as a mother, of course I am worried about the possibility of war with Russia," she says. "My 11-year-old son also asks me, 'Mom, what will happen if Russian missiles explode in Berlin?' But these feelings are not widespread among most of the public.

"I am an academic who works on security issues, so I think about this more. Politicians and experts have also started talking more about the possibility of war with Russia. There have been public debates recently focused on this and on Germany's security challenges. But 'ordinary' citizens, whoever they may be, are still unaware of the security challenges facing Germany. I think it is important that more and more people in Germany and across Europe begin to talk about the dangers coming from Russia, in order to raise public awareness."

Even in Germany, where the public debate on security is at least beginning to stir, it remains dormant further west, in Britain. "Recent polls show that only a small proportion of young people in Western European countries would be willing to take part in a war," says Dr. Huw Dylan, deputy head of the intelligence studies department at King's College London, who also attended the intelligence conference. "But since the sword of war is not actually hanging over our heads, those figures are not necessarily significant. There is no doubt that in a country like Britain, which enjoys the privilege of being far from the border with Russia, the tension is not felt, in contrast to places like Estonia or Poland. In any event, it is clear that a hybrid war is already underway in Europe, and there are people who fear that this war will escalate. But I do not fear a full-scale war in the foreseeable future."

Zero hour 

In my conversations with European officials, I tried to understand whether they had learned anything from Israel's experience on October 7, when the Hamas terrorist organization surprised Israel with its murderous assault. Yet even the "security hawk" Kiesewetter cannot imagine an absolute surprise on that scale. "The war will not begin with Russian tanks charging into Berlin, nor with airstrikes on Germany," he says emphatically. "If anything, the war will start with a move by Putin against the Baltic states."

Prof. Fischer, an intelligence expert, also does not sound like someone about to shatter the prevailing conception. Like the other German interviewees, she identifies 2029 as the year in which war with Russia is most likely to break out, if it does. Israeli officials who recently met senior NATO figures say those officials also pointed to 2029 as the target year for the alliance's war readiness.

"Europe can certainly learn from the Israeli experience," Fischer says in this regard. "Intelligence experts in Europe are already saying that if there is an assessment that war will break out in 2029, that does not mean it cannot erupt tomorrow. The pretext that will supposedly justify a Russian attack could appear at any moment, before we are prepared.

"At the same time, the liberal democratic states of Europe benefit from peace and stability, and no European leader has any interest in attacking Russia. What I can imagine is a scenario in which Putin tests Europe's willingness to set limits for him, for example in places such as the Baltic states."

Many of the European experts we spoke with argued that Putin has led Russia into economic dependence on its war industry. "I fear that if he ends the war in Ukraine, he will have no choice but to 'look for' another war in order to preserve his status and Russia's war economy," Fischer says. "I hope that if that happens, NATO will pass the test and force Putin to back down."

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The person who helped propagate the antisemitic theory on X was Leonarda Jonie, an American influencer and podcast host with hundreds of thousands of followers, who responded to an innocent tweet featuring Kirel and Peretz at their wedding and praising the couple's appearance.

In a post she uploaded responding to the initial tweet, Jonie wrote, "Fun fact: after WW2, Jews abducted many German babies and took them to Israel, to be raised as Jews, and thereby, infuse the inbred genome with strong genes," while  stating the photo was unrelated, but the antisemitic conspiracy's echo alongside the wedding photo of the two clearly referenced the blond Peretz.

Fun fact: after WW2, Jews abducted many German babies and took them to Israel, to be raised as Jews, and thereby, infuse the inbred genome with strong genes. (Pic unrelated.) https://t.co/brWsNjBTf9

— Leonarda Jonie (@leonardaisfunE) November 13, 2025

The conspiracy theory alleging Peretz, an Israeli and Jew, is actually a descendant of a German baby kidnapped after the Holocaust went viral within hours, and the post received significant exposure. While the post garnered no less than 27,000 likes, it also drew many furious responses from Israelis.

One user shared a meme in response stating in English, "Of all the things that never happened, this didn't happen the most." Another one commented: "Zero historical evidence. Zero documentation. Zero credibility. Just another recycled thing from the Nazi era disguised as a 'fun fact.'"

Another user uploaded a photo of emaciated Jews during the Holocaust in response and wrote, "These people kidnapped babies?!", accompanied by a clown emoji. "It wasn't fun or fact," another user wrote.

This antisemitic conspiracy combines an ancient blood libel with racist imagery about genetic "purity" and "improvement." It also exploits the ignorance of the masses and X's algorithm, which encourages provocative statements.

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In his August statement, Chancellor Merz explained, "The intensified military action by the IDF in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, makes it harder in the German government's view to achieve a ceasefire and free the hostages. Under these circumstances, Germany will not approve any export of military equipment that can be used in Gaza until further notice."

I welcome Chancellor Merz's move to revoke the decision regarding the partial "embargo".
I call on other governments to adopt similar decisions, following Germany

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) November 17, 2025

Germany is considered a key arms supplier for Israel, and the scope of defense exports from Germany has grown significantly in recent years – particularly after the October 7 events. Germany has previously supplied Israel with shells, spare parts for tanks and armored personnel carriers, explosives, small arms, and equipment for warships. Israel has purchased submarines and warships manufactured by German shipyards. Additionally, Germany has previously supplied Israel with engines for tanks and armored vehicles manufactured by the Israeli defense industry.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar welcomed the German chancellor's decision to restart arms exports to Israel and urged other governments to follow Germany's example: "I welcome Chancellor Merz's move to revoke the decision regarding the partial 'embargo'. I call on other governments to adopt similar decisions, following Germany," the minister said in a post on X.

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Pro-Palestinian activists climbed the Brandenburg Gate on Thursday, the iconic symbol of Germany's capital, where they unfurled a banner reading "never again genocide, Free Palestine." They displayed Palestinian flags and used flares.

Berlin police reported that 75 police officers and firefighters are at the scene, after "three people illegally climbed Brandenburg Gate using a crane." Officials added that three others who operated the crane were arrested in the central square.

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Burhan was arrested on Tuesday night when he attempted to enter Germany from Czechia. Investigators from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Federal Police apprehended the Hamas terrorist at the border.

According to authorities, in August 2025, the Lebanon-born operative allegedly acquired an AK-47 automatic assault rifle, eight Glock pistols, and over 600 rounds in Germany. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, he then transferred these items to his accomplice, who was staying in Berlin. The weapons transfer failed. As the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced in early October, the suspect came under surveillance by counterterrorism investigators. Three other suspects were arrested, one of whom was detained in Denmark, and Burhan al-Q. was arrested Tuesday night.

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Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Ankara, where he signed a deal with Erdogan for the sale of 20 Eurofighter jets to Turkey, a move made possible after Germany lifted its veto on the deal.

At a press conference with Erdogan, Merz said his government has stood by Israel since the Hamas-led October 7 massacre and supports its right to self-defense. "There was only one decision that could have prevented countless unnecessary casualties. Hamas should have released the hostages earlier and laid down its arms. This war would have ended immediately," he said. Merz added that he hopes the war is nearing its end with a cease-fire agreement mediated by the US and Turkey.

Erdogan rejected Merz's statements, saying, "Hamas doesn't have bombs or nuclear weapons, but Israel has all of these, and it uses them against Gaza, for example with last night's bombings. Don't you see what's happening in Germany? Don't you follow it? Beyond the attacks on Gaza, Israel has always sought to oppress it through hunger and genocide."

The clash came during a visit intended to strengthen relations, at a time when Turkey is in a favorable position with the West and NATO following what is seen as a series of diplomatic gains in Syria and in the mediation of a Gaza cease-fire.

Merz welcomed Turkey's purchase of 20 Eurofighter jets, made possible by Germany's lifting of its veto, and said Russia's aggressive policy poses a threat to NATO. "In this context, the German government explicitly welcomes Turkey's decision to buy the jets," he said. "They will serve the alliance's collective security."

Merz also criticized Turkey's suppression of its opposition, referring to the arrest of Istanbul's opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, in a purported corruption investigation. "Turkey has taken decisions that still fall short of the standards of rule of law and democracy as we understand them," he said. "I expressed my concern about issues that do not meet our expectations, such as judicial independence."

According to AFP, a source in Turkey's Defense Ministry said Ankara hopes to gain support for joining the European defense program, an initiative facing Greek opposition that could block the required consensus. The report said Germany has indicated it would support Turkey's accession.

During the talks, Merz asked Turkey to take back more rejected asylum seekers. Germany also seeks to advance the return of migrants to Syria and hopes for Ankara's assistance, given its close ties with Damascus. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadpfuhl visited Syria Thursday, meeting with President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Erdogan reiterated Turkey's desire to join the European Union. Merz said he views Turkey as "a close partner of the European Union" and expressed his wish to develop bilateral economic relations, "including in the fields of transportation and migration."

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Following the increase in Iranian terror activity and the arrests of Sardar Ammar's infrastructure, law enforcement authorities in Australia and Germany took sharp policy steps against senior Iranian officials. Among the steps: the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador from Australia and his designation as an undesirable person, and the summoning of the Iranian ambassador in Germany for a reprimand. These unprecedented steps were intended to send a clear message of zero tolerance for terror activity.

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This diplomatic incident somewhat reflects Europe's situation and that of Western leaders regarding the agreement that led to the Gaza ceasefire – they would like to be far more involved, and they would also like people to know it. Nevertheless, some European countries want to be more central in the process, the foremost among them being France. But Europe itself is divided on how to do this.

Now, after the agreement, Macron declares that France is "ready to continue its goal of a two-state solution" – the French understand they must not anger Trump, but see the agreement as an opportunity to advance the French-Saudi initiative.

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