Scholz used the word “soon”, but referring to deliveries in general, not weapons. Character-wise it should be noted that Scholz is an absolute master at not saying anything as well as saying things: If he did want to say something we wouldn’t be discussing whether he said something.
The government is overall quite keen on not explicitly saying that they’ve stopped weapons exports, for the time being. Reason being that they can’t legally issue export licenses. They can’t go to parliament, either, saying “erm we should scratch those paragraphs about not exporting weapons when there’s signs they could be used in a genocide”, that’s political suicide, and they can’t overrule the ministerial level (which makes those assessments) either, any such attempt would be a) illegal and b) leak instantly and thus be c) political suicide. Also I don’t think any of the ruling parties is in any way keen on exporting weapons to Israel. Stuff like air defence systems, sure, but even that must be weighed against Ukraine’s needs.
And they also can’t say that Israel is committing genocide. That wouldn’t be straight-out political suicide but it would force a discussion that noone wants to have, sitting things out, hoping that Israelis get their shit together and get rid of that Kahanite government, looks way more inviting.
So the word “soon” that is in the title — did that come from Scholz or is it an invention on the part of Reuters?
Scholz used the word “soon”, but referring to deliveries in general, not weapons. Character-wise it should be noted that Scholz is an absolute master at not saying anything as well as saying things: If he did want to say something we wouldn’t be discussing whether he said something.
The government is overall quite keen on not explicitly saying that they’ve stopped weapons exports, for the time being. Reason being that they can’t legally issue export licenses. They can’t go to parliament, either, saying “erm we should scratch those paragraphs about not exporting weapons when there’s signs they could be used in a genocide”, that’s political suicide, and they can’t overrule the ministerial level (which makes those assessments) either, any such attempt would be a) illegal and b) leak instantly and thus be c) political suicide. Also I don’t think any of the ruling parties is in any way keen on exporting weapons to Israel. Stuff like air defence systems, sure, but even that must be weighed against Ukraine’s needs.
And they also can’t say that Israel is committing genocide. That wouldn’t be straight-out political suicide but it would force a discussion that noone wants to have, sitting things out, hoping that Israelis get their shit together and get rid of that Kahanite government, looks way more inviting.