DW News published this video item, entitled “Why Germany is resuming arms exports to Saudi Arabia | DW News” – below is their description.
The German government has made a U-turn on arms exports. It wants to allow the delivery of Iris-T missiles and Eurofighter fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
It was Germany’s conservative-led government under Chancellor Angela Merkel that restricted German weapons exports to Saudi Arabia in October 2018.
This was in response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the war in Yemen, where an alliance of Arab states is fighting against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels under Saudi leadership. That war has triggered one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Now, just over five years later, the government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz is reassessing its relations with the Saudi government.
Following the terror attack by the militant Islamist Hamas on Israel on October 7, Saudi Arabia has been making a significant contribution to Israel’s security, said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Green Party) on January 7 during a visit to Jerusalem. “And this is helping to contain the danger of the conflict spreading across the region.”
00:00 Background
02:50 Hans-Jakob Schindler, Counter Extremism Project
DW News YouTube Channel
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