Germany updates: Merz criticizes Israel in summer address

In a move sharply criticized by human rights groups, Germany deported 81 Afghans to Kabul on Friday.

Gerald Knaus of the European Stability Initiative told DW that, while expelling asylum seekers with rejected claims is legal, engaging diplomatically with Afghanistan's Taliban regime is problematic.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and several of his European counterparts have agreed to "up the tempo" of asylum procedures and deportations for illegal migrants, and toughen up the European Union (EU)'s migration policy.

"The EU is a tolerant region and will remain a tolerant region, but we don't want criminal trafficking gangs to decide who comes to our region," said Dobrindt following a meeting at the top of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain in the Bavarian Alps on the Austrian border.

"We are all concerned that the overburdening of our countries by illegal migration is also contributing massively to the polarization of society. We want to push back this polarization,"  the conservative politician continued, announcing a "migration system on the European level" which he said was a "visible sign of unity, determination and common engagement."

Dobrindt, of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU), said he and his French, Polish, Austrian, Danish and Czech counterparts had agreed that asylum claims should also be processed in third countries in future, in so-called "return hubs" outside the EU.

"We wanted to send a signal that Germany is no longer sitting in the brakeman's cab on migration issues in Europe, but is in the locomotive," Dobrindt said.

The meeting at the Zugspitze came just hours after a flight carrying 81 Afghans whose asylum claims had been rejected or who had criminal convictions departed for Kabul – the first such deportation flight under the new German government (see earlier post).

Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, called for all countries to immediately end deportations to Afghanistan on Friday.

"States must do everything in their power to help Afghans & ensure that returns to Afghanistan are voluntary, safe, dignified, & in line with international law," he said.

His statement came just hours after Germany deported what it said were 81 criminals to Afghanistan, which is controlled by the Islamist Taliban. 

The UN said deportations to Afghanistan were creating "a multi-layered human rights crisis." 

UN spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani on Friday told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, that sending individuals — even those convicted of crimes — to a country where they facing serious risk of abuse "violates the core international law principle of non-refoulement."

Though many countries halted deportations when the Taliban returned to power in 2021, many have now resumed deportations.

According to the UN, Iran alone deported more than 500,000 Afghans in June. More than 1.9 million Afghans have been returned to the country from Iran and Pakistan since January 1. 

Shamdasani said people returning to Afghanistan "whether by compulsion or of their own volition, find a country facing an acute humanitarian and human-rights crisis."

"They also face structural and systemic discrimination, gender persecution, issues related to ethnicity, obstacles to full reintegration into society, and a dearth of work and livelihoods as a result of a struggling economy."

In an apparent dig at Germany's ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, Friedrich Merz on Friday used her famous optimistic integration mantra "we can do this" to claim the opposite, commenting, "Today, we know that when it comes to this [integration], we clearly haven't done it."   

Merz said it is for this reason that his administration is looking to make a course correction, noting that it had already begun.

Although he said Germany had been unable to truly integrate migrants into society as Merkel had promised in 2015, Merz said he remains supportive of immigration into the German labor sector.

Germany, he said, has been an immigrant-friendly country for years, but added: "We have to control immigration, we have to be better at controlling it." 

One way that Merz and his administration have sought to control the influx of immigrants has been to tighten the control of its national borders — despite this running counter to the Schengen area agreement on barrier-free travel within the EU and other Schengen nations.

Merz said Germany's border control measures are temporary, while thanking neighboring Poland for tightening its [and the EU's] external borders.

The chancellor said that Germany, too, is keen to help defend the EU's exterior borders but said that until the EU finds a lasting solution, Germany would have no choice but to control its own inner-EU borders.

A procedural vote last week in Germany's lower house of parliament that was meant to have elected three judges to Germany's Constitutional Court was delayed at the last minute.

That was because it became clear that Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative bloc was not going to support a candidate — Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf — put forth by co-ruling Social Democrats.

But how usual, or unsual, is the scenario and what does it tell us about Merz's coalition? DW takes a deeper look at the topic in this episode of Berlin Briefing. 

 

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended Constitutional Court nominee Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf against fierce criticism, especially from the political right. 

Law professor Brosius-Gersdorf's nomination to Germany's top court was put on hold after a dispute over media portrayals of claims about her having "ultra-left" views and unsubstantiated plagiarism allegations. Brosius-Gersdorf was proposed as a candidate by the center-left Social Democrats, the junior partner in government.

Merz's conservatives unexpectedly withdrew their support, citing concerns about her views on abortion and her support for mandatory vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Merz called the media scrum around the law professor in recent weeks "completely unacceptable."

"The criticism that was expressed was at times unobjective, polemical, and in part personally insulting and degrading," Merz said. He warned of a climate — particularly on social media — where "massive personal defamation" is no longer off-limits.

The discord between the two parties represents the first major crisis within Germany's governing coalition, which only came to power in May. Brosius-Gersdorf has said the claims made about her political views are both inaccurate and disparaging. She remains a candidate for the court and could still be appointed after the Bundestag's summer break. 

Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday said that German diplomatic ties to Afghanistan had never been broken while at the same time making clear that "diplomatic recognition of the Taliban is not up for discussion," adding "there can be no such thing."

Speaking to the deportation of 81 Afghans to Kabul on Friday morning, Merz said they had been facilitated via "technical contacts" between Qatar and the Taliban — Afghanistan's de facto rulers. 

Merz said negotiations about organizing the deportations had been ongoing for weeks and involved numerous parts of the German government. 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took the unusual step of criticizing Israel on Friday.

Merz, speaking at an annual summer press conference, said Israel's approach to Gaza is "no longer acceptable."

The chancellor called for an immediate ceasefire in the beleaguered enclave as the death toll there surpassed 58,000 this week. 

He also called for more humanitarian assistance for those in Gaza — something that has been gravely hampered by Israel's decision to boot all international aid programs out of Gaza in favor of the highly controversial US-run and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which critics have called a cynical death trap for desperate Gazans seeking to find food for their families.

Merz said he is in regular contact with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he has offered to increase German aid to the enclave.

Merz also noted that his government "does not support" Israel's settlement policy. adding that he clearly expressed that sentiment in his calls with Netanyahu. 

"It's clear where we stand. We are doing everything we can to do right by both sides [Israel and Palestinians in Gaza]," said Merz, noting that "the state of Israel would cease to exist" if it didn't defend itself. At the same time, said Merz, "We see the suffering of the Palestinian people and we are also trying to do all we can to deliver humanitarian assistance."  

Germany, due to what it refers to as its historical responsibility toward the state of Israel, has been one of its staunchest supporters during its war in Gaza, providing significant diplomatic and military support.

Merz on Friday brushed off calls for the suspension of EU association agreements with Israel as well as firmly rejecting any equivalency between Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's approach to Gaza — stating that Russia had launched a war of aggression, whereas Israel was defending itself against Hamas.

Israel launched its military operations in Gaza and the wider Middle East after the Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas — listed as a terror organization by Israel, the US, EU and others — launched a surprise attack on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and with another 250 being taken hostage.

Israel has killed more than 58,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to figures from the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The UN considers the figures largely reliable, but an independent survey published in the journal Nature in late June said the death toll was likely closer to 84,000.

German authorities on Friday announced that they had arrested a senior Libyan official wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on suspicion of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ICC warrant for Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri's arrest cites his oversight of a prison notorious for the regular torture and sexual abuse of detainees.

El Hishri is accused of facilitating crimes including murder, torture and rape committed between February 2015 and early 2020

The ICC, which has been investigating crimes committed in Libya since the outbreak of civil war in the country in 2011, has said that El Hishri will remain in German custody until national proceedings can be completed.

"I thank the national authorities for their strong and consistent cooperation with the Court, including leading to this recent arrest," ICC Registrar Osvaldo Zavala Giler said in a statement.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday welcomed the EU's announcement of yet another raft of sanctions against Russia over its ongoing invasion of neighboring Ukraine. 

"It’s good that we in the EU have now agreed on the 18th sanctions package against Russia. It targets banks, energy, and the military industry. This weakens Russia’s ability to continue financing the war against Ukraine," wrote Merz in a social media post on X. 

The sanctions were announced by the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas. On Friday, Kallas wrote on X, "The EU just approved one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date," claiming, "Each sanction weakens Russia's ability to wage war."

Read the full story on the EU's 18th sanctions package against Russia.

German farms are bracing for their smallest outdoor strawberry harvest since 1995, with just 75,500 tons expected this year, according to initial estimates from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

That's 4% below last year’s already weak crop of 78,600 tons — and 24% below the six-year average of 99,900 tons.

Asparagus yields are also falling, with just 98,900 tons forecast — 9% less than in 2024 and the worst harvest since 2010. Compared to the 2019–2024 average, the shortfall is 15%.

A key reason is the shrinking area under cultivation. Outdoor strawberry acreage is down 4% from last year to 8,100 hectares — the lowest since 1995.

Producers cite high costs and weaker demand for domestic strawberries, which are considered a premium product, as reasons for scaling back.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Friday traveled to Paris to meet with French colleague Jean-Noel Barrot. The two are scheduled to discuss Franco-German relations, which Chancellor Merz promised to invigorate upon taking office.

One issue the two are likely to address is Germany's tightening of its borders under the new administration.

Moreover, the two will exchange notes on support for Ukraine in its ongoing defense against invading Russian troops. Germany, for instance, recently volunteered to purchase US-made Patriot missiles to deliver to Kyiv as the US backs off from its support under President Donald Trump.  

Wadephul and Barrot will also discuss the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and specifically, the fate of a 19-year-old French-German citizen arrested in Iran last month.

A chartered flight has returned a group of Afghans from Germany after failed asylum claims and criminal convictions.

The German Interior Ministry on Friday confirmed it sent Afghan nationals back to their home country on board a flight from Leipzig airport.

"This morning, Germany is deporting 81 Afghan nationals to their country of origin as part of a collective repatriation effort," the ministry said. "These are Afghan men who are legally required to leave the country and who have a criminal record in the past."

More than 10 months ago, Germany resumed deporting Afghan nationals for the first time since the Taliban seized power in 2021. Then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz had pledged to ramp up removals of rejected asylum-seekers.

His successor, Friedrich Merz, made tougher migration policy a key pillar of his February election campaign.

Read the full story on the deportation of Afghan nationals to Afghanistan.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday morning will hold his first summer press conference since taking the oath of office in May. 

The annual event, which usually begins with a statement by the chancellor followed by journalists' questions, can last hours and is typically a chancellor's last appearance before heading into summer vacation.

Merz is expected to field questions on the recent postponement of appointments to Germany's Constitutional Court in parliament, the war in Ukraine, and the ongoing tariff spat with the US.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Friday will host several EU colleagues for a discussion on tightening migration policy in the bloc.

The meeting, which will take place at the top of Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze, will be attended by the interior ministers of Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France and Poland, as well as by EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner. 

The ministers are scheduled to discuss deportations to third-countries as well as plans to shift asylum application processes there, fighting human trafficking, and the security of EU exterior borders. 

Dobrindt has said he aims to release a so-called "Zugspitze declaration" at the meeting's end.

Critics have dubbed the meeting the "isolation summit."