Germany defends envoy as Israel row escalates over settler remarks

BERLIN –  Germany’s Foreign Ministry stands behind its outgoing ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, said a ministry spokesperson on Monday, after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticised an X post by Seibert for mentioning Israeli settler violence.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul spoke directly to Saar by phone on Sunday night to discuss the exchange  between the two, said the spokesperson, and “that concludes the matter.”

“The foreign minister has a very, very close relationship with his Israeli counterpart, they are in frequent contact,” added the spokesperson.

Saar had criticised the ambassador for bringing up settler violence  in the West Bank in a post in which he also lamented the death of an Israeli  farmer killed near the Lebanese border and injuries to hundreds of Israelis from Iranian strikes.

“A day of outrage and sadness: a farmer killed by Hizbollah up North, hundreds injured by Iran’s missiles in the South and Center. And in a parallel reality: the violent settler rampage in Palestinian villages following the tragic and to be investigated death of one of their own,” wrote Seibert.

Saar responded that it was good that Seibert would be replaced soon, by the ambassador to Russia, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, and that his “obsession” with settlers in the West Bank stopped him from condemning the death of the Israeli.

“Seibert finds it very difficult to  condemn attacks against Israelis without bringing up the Palestinians,” wrote Saar.

Israel said on Monday that a farmer killed near the Lebanese frontier the previous day, the first civilian killed in Israel in a border conflict that has run in parallel with the war in Iran, was hit by misfired Israeli artillery. It had initially reported he was killed by cross-border fire from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia.

The night before Seibert’s post, settlers set fire  to homes and cars in several Palestinian villages, following the death of a settler hit by a car driven by a Palestinian. Israeli police said they were investigating whether the car incident was an accident or intentional.

Germany has traditionally been a strong supporter of Israel, motivated in part by its culpability for the  Holocaust. But it has also taken a stance against violence by Israeli settlers towards Palestinians in the West Bank.