Statement from MERA25 and DiEM25 Germany on Israel’s war of aggression against Iran amid the ongoing genocide in Palestine

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has once again openly aligned himself with the Israeli regime – a regime that has, for the past 20 months, been carrying out a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza before our eyes, while simultaneously working to fully annex the West Bank. After decades of preparation, nuclear-armed Israel has now launched an attack on Iran. There is a very real danger that this war will spiral into a regional inferno – possibly escalating to nuclear warfare. With full backing from the G7 and NATO. With German approval.

We’ve seen this playbook before:
The lie of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” in Iraq.
The demonization of entire peoples.
The calls for “regime change.”

It always ends the same: with bombs falling on cities and villages. With burned bodies. With traumatized generations growing up in violence, loss, and rage. With millions forced to flee their homes – only to be dehumanized once again at Europe’s borders. With destroyed infrastructure, shattered economies, hunger, and hopelessness. And with trillions in profit for the military-industrial complex.

Now it is Iran’s turn. Once again, the West seeks to destabilize, depopulate, and burn a country – as if international law, human life, and historical responsibility no longer existed.

While U.S. President Trump tells 10 million people in Tehran to “leave the city” – as if they could simply vanish – Friedrich Merz praises Israel for “doing the dirty work” on behalf of the West. What does he mean with that? The destruction of Iran? The genocide in Gaza?

We say: We stand with the people of Iran – and we refuse to be distracted from what is happening in Palestine.

And all of this, because the colonial powers of the 21st century still believe they have the right to decide who lives and who dies.

The truth is: The West has been destabilizing Iran for decades – and now presents itself as the savior from the very chaos it created. In 1953, the United States and Britain overthrew Iran’s democratically elected government in Operation Ajax because it refused to serve Western oil interests. What followed was decades of repression under the Shah, which in turn paved the way for the Islamic Revolution and a brutal theocracy. Experience shows us that Western interference, espionage, and economic blackmail do not dismantle repressive systems – they strengthen them.

Our solidarity lies with the people and our shared struggles for freedom – struggles that will never be won through wars of aggression or regime-change operations.

Merz speaks of “dirty-work.” But what he means is submission to an imperial agenda. And what he delivers is complicity in a war of aggression against a sovereign nation and in the ongoing genocide in Palestine – now deliberately obscured by the escalation against Iran. This is not “defending Israel.” Both are crimes – crimes that recall the darkest chapter of German history.

We mourn the people in the region who are, once again, being made to bleed for the war fantasies of Western politicians.

We are appalled by the same lies – lies that already killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and have long been exposed. Lies now repeated in direct contradiction to published intelligence assessments.

We condemn the colonial cynicism of a chancellor who prefers to legitimize bombs rather than pursue diplomacy.

Germany is now in the process of destroying every principle of diplomacy, international cooperation, and international law – in the name of profit, power, and obedience to Washington and Tel Aviv. The architecture of the UN, the prohibition of the use of force, the respect for sovereignty, and the promise of “never again” – all of it is being sacrificed.

We say: No. Not in our name.

We demand:

• An immediate end to all arms exports to Israel
• No German involvement – direct or indirect – in war against Iran or in the genocide in Palestine
• A non-aligned foreign policy that protects people, not markets or imperial interests
• Solidarity with all those resisting occupation, bombs, and imperialism

Peace requires courage. And the truth. Not more lies.

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