German officials alluded that the country would not arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu per the International Criminal Court ruling due to the country's Nazi history, The Telegraph reported on Friday.
Several countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Netherlands, implied that they would arrest Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant after the ICC issued warrants for the two's arrest on Thursday.
All EU countries are court members, meaning they are mandated to enforce ICC warrants.
However, because of Germany's complex relationship with Israel and antisemitism, German officials said that they found it difficult to believe that the country would carry out the warrant.
“I find it hard to imagine that arrests could be carried out in Germany on this basis,” said Steffen Hebestreit, a spokesman for German chancellor Olaf Scholz, The Telegraph reported.
Germany is 'examining' its next steps
Hebestreit reportedly did not answer the reporter's questions about whether Netanyahu is welcome to visit Germany but noted that his government was examining legal questions on how to comply with the warrant. However, he did not say what the questions entailed.
“At the same time, it is a consequence of German history that we share unique relations and great responsibility with Israel," The Telegraph quoted Hebestreit as saying. “We will carefully examine the domestic steps. Any further action would only be taken when a visit [to Germany] by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant is foreseeable.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock emphasized that her country complies with the ICC at every level on the sidelines of the COP29 conference in Baku earlier this month, Reuters reported.
"Whether the Israeli prime minister will enter the European Union is a hypothetical question. But we are now examining exactly how we will deal with it," she told broadcaster RTL/ntv in an interview.
The German government said in a statement that it was one of the ICC's largest supporters, which it claims is also a result of its complex history in the 20th century.
Netanyahu maintains that the arrest warrants are an "antisemetic step with one goal—to deter me, to deter us [Israel]—from exercising our right to defend ourselves."