Germany has come under pressure to adjust its Middle East policy after failing to gain a seat on the UN Security Council.
Berlin's claim to have upheld the international rules-based order have rung hollow in the eyes of the Global South, critics have said.
In recent conflicts, states have watched Germany defend allies such as Israel and the US while calling for accountability against geopolitical adversaries such as Russia.
“Germany's approach to Gaza has become the defining example of western double standards,” German human rights lawyer Alexander Schwarz told The National.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described Germany's failure to be elected to the 15-member council as a “bitter defeat” and acknowledged that Berlin's policy on Israel may have cost it votes.
But he warned that Germany “will continue to live up to our historical responsibility, even if at the time we criticise specific policies of the current [Israeli] government”.
“This result does not alter the tasks we face at the United Nations. Germany remains a reliable pillar of the multilateral system,” he added.
German leaders describe Berlin's support for Israel as a “reason of state” that is rooted in the country's responsibility for the Holocaust.
Complex situations
On the world stage, Germany is perceived as relevant as the EU's economic powerhouse and one of the largest donors to international organisations and humanitarian aid.
Germany has also played a leading role in matters of international law, particularly in mobilising international support for Ukraine amid Russia's war on the country.
“This has raised high expectations and, consequently, led to such a great disappointment in the case of Gaza,” said Bente Scheller, head of the Middle East and North Africa Division at the Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung Foundation in Berlin.
Russian lobbying against Germany's UNSC candidacy was one of the reasons Mr Wadephul highlighted in explaining the country's failure to secure a seat.
German officials say that comparing Ukraine to Gaza is a mistake because the two conflicts have different root causes: Israel launched its operation in response to an unprecedented Hamas-led attack in October 2023, whereas Russia attacked its sovereign neighbour.
But Germany has also applied double standards beyond the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, particularly with regard to its ally the US, which is expected to have fuelled criticism from countries such as Russia, said Muriel Asseburg, a senior fellow in the Africa and Middle East Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
To this day, Berlin has taken no position on Washington's abduction in January of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the incident as “complex” and said the German government would take its time to consider its position, despite UN experts calling it a clear breach of international law.
“They've had quite some time – almost half a year – and they haven't figured it out, so double standards and support for the rule-based international order actually are a problem beyond Israel-Palestine,” Ms Asseburg said.
Germany has served six terms on the Security Council. On Wednesday, it received 104 votes, far behind the 131 for Austria and 134 for Portugal. They secured the two Western European spots on the council starting next year.
While Austria is closely aligned with Germany on Israel, Portugal was among 10 western countries to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September last year.
Berlin and Vienna have come under increasing criticism from other EU leaders, including Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, who last week said that invoking their “eternal debt” towards Israel was no longer justifiable as Israel expands its military operations in Lebanon.
More recently, Germany has increased its criticism of Israeli conduct and of certain cabinet members such as far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
He caused outrage in Europe for insulting European activists arrested by Israel as they tried to break its maritime blockade of Gaza.
Credibility crisis
But German statements on Israel have remained more cautious than those by other European powers including Britain and France.
“Germany must definitely now acknowledge the scale of the credibility crisis it definitely faces,” Mr Schwarz said. “For too long, policymakers have assumed that invoking historical responsibility absolves them from scrutiny.”
The German government's inability to reconcile its special relationship with Israel with international law has been “met with incomprehension,” Ms Scheller said.
Leading German politicians have criticised Mr Wadephul for the failed UN vote while striving to keep the focus away from relations with Israel.
“They are rather hesitant to really put the finger in the wound and say this is definitely linked to Germany's Middle East policy,” Mr Schwarz said. “They also fear that might imply a negative backlash.”
The opposition Green Party blamed Mr Wadephul and Chancellor Merz for the “embarrassing defeat” at the UN.
“Last year, the German government did far too little to underpin this bid with modern ideas,” said Agnieszka Brugger, the party's deputy leader in the Bundestag.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has regularly criticised Berlin's support for Ukraine, said the result was no accident.
Rather, it was “the result of years of ideologically blinkered, unrealistic foreign policy which isolates Germany internationally”, said AfD MP Markus Frohnmaier.
