Germany’s Chancellor Meets the Moment

Could a new stalwart be emerging on the Continent? The thought occurs to us as Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Friday told a heckler who was agitating for the Palestinian Arabs that “the federal government that I lead will never leave any doubt about where we stand. We stand with Israel.” To raucous applause he pledged to combat antisemitism, keep Germany as a place where Jews can live “freely and openly,” and to support the Jewish state. Bravo to Berlin. What a refreshing contrast is Mr. Merz’s clarity to the obfuscations on offer from, say, Governor Gavin Newsom. He flirts with the canard of “apartheid” and muses about withholding arms from an ally in the midst of war. In that same appearance on Friday Mr. Merz declared that Israel is fighting for its “existence” and the “right to live in freedom.” He also diagnoses the “root cause” of the Middle East’s maladies as hostility to the Jewish state.Mr. Merz’s initial statement on the war was equally as impressive. He declared that “the mullah regime is a terrorist regime” and that “now is not the time to lecture our partners and allies. Despite our doubts, we share many of their goals, even though we ourselves are unable to actually achieve them.” He added that “Legal classifications under international law will achieve relatively little — especially when they largely remain without consequences.”A German journalist, Filip Piatov, writing in the Journal, calls that “the most remarkable foreign-policy sentence ever spoken by a postwar German leader” and “a jolt of realism for German elites, who, more than 80 years after World War II, generally treat international law as sacrosanct.” Mr. Merz’s pro-American stance has infuriated the hard-right Alternative for Germany, a faction formerly chummy with Vice President Vance. While Germany has not joined the war effort itself its position stands in marked contrast to the antagonistic posture adopted by Spain and the incoherent one that has emerged from 10 Downing Street. Messrs. Trump and Merz appeared to get on at the White House last week. Of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s belated offer of cooperation, Mr. Trump said Saturday on Truth Social that “we don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”Mr. Merz appears to grasp reality in a way that often eludes the Continent’s mandarins. He told his fellow Europeans at Davos that “We have become the world champion of overregulation. That has to end.” The Times reports that Germany is “already spending much more money” on defense. The Gray Lady reports that “Strategic autonomy, senior French, Italian and Polish officials fear, will increasingly have a German accent.”Better than a Russian one, we say. The numbers tell the story of Mr. Merz’s seriousness. Germany plans to spend some $126 billion on defense this year, with Britain at $84 billion and France at a measly $70 billion. The chancellor promises to “make the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional army in Europe as soon as possible,” and Germany has revised its conscription practices. It is borrowing more to finance its military upgrade. We grasp that for many Europeans any effort to “Make Germany Great Again” will bring with it baleful memories from the last century. The AfD’s growing potency is concerning, as we have noted. Germany, though, is proving itself to be an outlier in Europe in respect of its support for Washington and Jerusalem, its stance against terror, and its opposition to antisemitism. Mr. Merz is meeting the moment.

Germany’s Chancellor Meets the Moment

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