Pay attention to that phrase for history. It was uttered by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz: "Germany has an obligation to exercise greater restraint than any other country on Earth when it comes to giving public advice to Israel. But when red lines are crossed, when international humanitarian law is truly violated, the German Chancellor also has an obligation to say something about it."
Few statements like this allow us to understand that we are on another page of history. Germany knows the criminal guilt it will always carry with it in relation to the Jewish people, but after admitting it and explaining it in schools in a constant exercise of memory, eighty years after the liberation of the Nazi extermination camps, it feels the need to demonstrate that its silence on the ethnic cleansing in Gaza cannot be Israel's greatest ally in Europe.
Now, of course, we must do the difficult thing: move from words to deeds. How do you oppose the law of the strongest, which is the law more prevalent than ever? Putin is doubling down on aggression against Ukraine, Netanyahu is doing the same in Gaza, both of them heedless of the reputational cost, and Trump is bringing presidents to his office to be publicly humiliated. The example the world is receiving regarding international relations becomes a terrible message for personal relations: the important thing is to win, at any cost, to inspire fear, and at the same time to shield oneself from any internal criticism. With its public criticism of Israel, Germany has underlined the beginning of a dark era, with greater strength and less legal authority.
