Germany undermining its credibility by tolerating US, Israeli breaches of international law: Report

Germany’s reluctance to condemn the violation of international law by its allies, the US and Israel, is undermining its own credibility and accelerating the erosion of the rules-based global order, according to a major report released Monday.

The 2026 Peace Report, produced annually by leading German think tanks for conflict research, warned that states are increasingly acting like “warlords” and using war as a “political tool.” It said that failing to push back against this trend risks further escalation of violent conflicts worldwide.

The report sharply criticized the German government’s foreign policy, particularly its hesitation to denounce unilateral US military actions, Israeli war crimes in Gaza, and Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Syria.

“By selectively denouncing breaches of international law while, through evasive language, appearing to tolerate violations by allies such as the US and Israel, Germany risks undermining its credibility as an international actor,” the experts wrote. They urged an immediate shift in Berlin’s approach.

“We must begin by clearly identifying and publicly condemning blatant violations of rules, regardless of whether these are committed by allies or adversaries,” the report stated. “Only then can a rules-based order be upheld.”

The Peace Report is the joint yearbook of the German Institutes of Peace and Conflict Research, comprising BICC (Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies); the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH); the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF); and the Leibniz Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF).