### Reader’s Letter to The Guardian, 3rd October 2024 ###
Dear Editor,
For a long time now I have been massively bemused by Germany’s dogmatic support for Israel: Yes, Israel did suffer horrific aggression on 7th October 2023 but the continued reluctance of both German politicians and media to comment objectively on the on-going blood-bath which is now mutating into a potential “World War Three” repeatedly blows my mind.
At first I put this down to Germany’s history and the enormous moral obligation that Germans are under following the holocaust. But recently I came across an info-graphic (BBC news, link below) showing that Germany exports almost half as many arms to Israel as the USA (29.7% to the USA’s 65.6%).
So, with the German car-industry in decline but the stock of German arms-companies on the rise, I ask myself whether there is another motivation in play?
But, regardless of “motivation”, this fact (29.7%!) means that Germany does have a significant lever on the conflict (i.e. the withdrawal of arms-supply) which it chooses not only to not use but also to not talk about.
As a German citizen I am deeply ashamed.
Yours,
Alan Mitcham
Link to info-graphic (scroll down): https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68737412
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