German court rejects bid to halt arms exports to Israel – DW

The Administrative Court of Berlin on Wednesday rejected a pair of appeals to halt German weapons exports to Israel on procedural grounds.

The cases were filed by several Palestinians: one from a naturalized German citizen and the other from his father in Gaza and other co-plaintiffs.

Their main goal of the appeals was to halt all future weapons exports until the ceasefire and peace talks process in the Middle East is complete, and to retroactively declare a weapons export license already granted by the German government for the export of 3,000 portable anti-tank weapons as unlawful.

The plaintiffs argued that the government’s approval of the exports contravenes Germany’s commitments under international humanitarian law.

Court finds cases invalid given changed circumstances

The court said in a press release on Wednesday evening that both cases were rejected on procedural grounds.

It said the preemptive prevention of new arms exports the plaintiffs sought would have required a situation where it was likely that Germany would export weapons to Israel in contravention of its human rights law commitments in the near future.

“That is currently not expected to be the case,” the court wrote. “The federal government has explicity changed its approval policy on the delivery of weapons of war to Israel.”

The other lawsuit, which initially sought the revocation of approval to export anti-tank weapons to Israel first granted in October 2023, was later changed to seek a retroactive statement declaring the export to be illegal.

The court said it could only have been granted if there was a concrete danger of the German government acting in the same way again.

It said that future decisions from Berlin “could not be predicted with certainty” and also that “the situation in the Gaza conflict has changed significantly since the fall of 2023.”

The cases followed several past, failed attempts to secure emergency injunctions stopping the weapons exports.

The case was being heard in a Berlin city court because that is the seat of the government. Although it’s being heard by administrative court officials, the hearing was relocated to the more secure Moabit Criminal Court on safety grounds.

Doctor told court he’d treated victims of the destruction

One of a total of seven original plaintiffs, one of whom has since died, appeared in court himself to testify on Wednesday.

The naturalized German citizen, a physician, said he had been in Gaza treating wounded during the war and had seen the damage done by “weapons made in Germany,” playing on the English-language slogan often used by German businesses and politicians as a boast about export quality and popularity.

He said that as a children’s doctor he had fought for the lives of the wounded, “no matter what skin color, origin, religion or ethnicity they had,” adding: “I expect the same from others.”

Presiding judge Stephan Goscurth told the doctor that his lawsuit would not succeed because of his length of time spent living in Germany and the man subsequently withdrew it. He said he had not expected success but wanted to try everything he could.

“I want to be able to look my parents in the eye,” he told the court.

One of the lawyers for the plaintiffs based in Gaza told the chamber about their experiences during the war. One of them had died in July aged 63 in an attack in Gaza, Remo Klinger told the court. The others were living in refugee camps and had lost several relatives in the fighting, he said.

German arms exports: No more rules?

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Germany scaled up, then scaled back weapons export

A panel of senior members of Germany’s federal government has to approve weapons exports to other countries on an individual basis.

Following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel that set the most recent war in Gaza in motion, Germany’s government decided to increase and prioritize the consideration and approval of weapons exports to Israel.

In August 2025, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany would temporarily halt approving the export of weapons that could be used in Gaza, in response to what he termed an increasingly aggressive approach from Israeli forces at that time. The plaintiffs said this pledge was insufficient.

The following month, the government did approve the export of military equipment worth at least €2.46 million (roughly $2.85 million), as was shown in an answer to a parliamentary query issued by the opposition Left Party.

That figure is a marked reduction compared to weapons worth more than €250 million being approved for export between January 1 and August 8, 2025.

A shaky ceasefire came into force in Gaza as of October 10, but several outbreaks of fighting have occurred since then.