One thousand two hundred lives, dreams and wishes were taken from 1200 people. People who were murdered in cold blood. Ravaged, hunted, raped. Over 250 people – women, men, children – were abducted. Around 100 of them are still being held in captivity by Hamas in the dark tunnels and cellars of Gaza.

We’ve heard a few stories – too few, I think – here this morning, stories that are beyond our power of comprehension. But it is so important that we keep telling these stories about lives that could be our own. And that includes the stories of those who wanted to help at this most terrible moment of barbaric brutality. There’s the story of Amit, a young paramedic aged 22. In her last message to her sister, she wrote: “They’re here at the clinic now. I don’t think I’m going to make it. I love you.” Or the story of the Arabic-speaking medic who rushed to stop the terrorists in Arabic and who was murdered in cold blood.

7 October 2023 marked a rupture for Israel, for our country, for the world. For Jews all around the world and for the entire Middle East region. It was a day on which the terrorists dragged the region closer to the abyss – as they’re continuing to do each and every day. And, yes, our message to our Israeli friends and to the world can only be this: we stand by your side, by Israel’s side.

Israel’s security is part of Germany’s raison d’état. We together – we as the Federal Republic of Germany, we as the Federal Government, myself as Foreign Minister, we as the Parliament, the democratic core, you as parliamentarians – have made this clear time and again, and I’m extremely grateful for this. This isn’t a party-political issue. That’s why I’d like to try in the short time that’s available to me now to address a few points that are important to me. Israel’s security is part of Germany’s raison d’état, regardless of who is in power and who conducts foreign policy.

We need to join forces as democratic parties in holding firm to precisely this. That’s why, from the outset, I’ve said that we need to be able to differentiate, which is precisely what the families of the victims, the families of the hostages, are calling for. A mother told me that in a competition of pain, there can be no winners. If the mother of a murdered hostage has the strength to differentiate in the darkest hour of her life, then we, as democrats of the Federal Republic of Germany, should be able to muster precisely this strength time and again on all of these issues.

That’s why we, as the German Government, as Parliament, as democrats, have made it so clear that Israel’s right to self-defence is also our responsibility. We stand by this not only with words, but also with deeds, each and every day.

We have also made it just as clear – and this isn’t a contradiction, but rather something that adds to my last point – that international humanitarian law and Israel’s right to exist are inextricably linked. That’s what Germany’s raison d’état stands for.

That’s why we have made it clear time and again that self-defence means, of course, not only attacking terrorists, but also destroying them. This’s why I have made it so clear that when Hamas terrorists hide behind people, behind schools, then we end up in very difficult waters. But we’re not shying away from this. This is why I made it clear at the United Nations that civilian sites could lose their protected status if terrorists abuse this status. That’s what Germany stands for – and that’s what we mean when we refer to Israel’s security.

And because the resolutions have been mentioned, let me add that we’re pursuing a policy of action. We cannot, in view of the resolutions that state that humanitarian assistance must reach Gaza and that the two-state solution must be the only goal if there is a real desire for security in the entire region, but which also contain a few sentences that Germany doesn’t agree with, say that we close our eyes, that we cannot muster the strength to differentiate, unlike, incidentally, the mother of a murdered hostage at the most difficult time in her life.

Here, too, Germany’s raison d’état means that we clearly refer to both international humanitarian law and Israel’s right to self-defence.

I’d also like to make it clear at this point that we’re battling every day to ensure that aid reaches Gaza. One thing is clear, which is that Israel can only enjoy lasting peace if its neighbours, the Palestinians, can also enjoy lasting peace.

You, Mr Merz, Mr Dobrindt, have mentioned the supplies of weapons. Also at this juncture, I’d like to ask that we find the strength to differentiate. The relevant body in our country meets in secret. However, a lawsuit has been brought before the International Court of Justice. And the Federal Republic of Germany has made it clear that we’re supplying weapons to support Israel. So your statement is wrong.

Likewise, we have made it clear that it goes without saying that international humanitarian law also applies here.

It’s important to me that we stand together as democrats.

As this is so important to me, I was interested to read your article in the “BILD” newspaper. In it, you emphasised that it’s important for us to openly and honestly address issues that raise many questions among our closest friends and also in this country – regarding the action taken in the West Bank, for example. To my mind, “close friendship” means speaking to each other honestly and trustfully in this darkest hour, because we simply cannot allow the West Bank or Lebanon to become a second Gaza. If Israel’s security is our raison d’état, then we must do everything in our power to ensure that people in the region are able to live in security. So that Israel can live in security for the generations to come.

I’d like to take this opportunity to reiterate what I said in the Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday. We cannot simply content ourselves with the debates on 7 October, but must ask what we ourselves can do in very concrete terms to ensure that, in the face of the rupture that was 7 October, the promise of “never again!” that we made in the past also applies to the future.

With this in mind, a major task for German foreign policy over the past 11 months has been to work together to ensure that the terrorists’ perfidious playbook does not come to fruition. The aim of the attack on 7 October was, after all, to isolate Israel around the world, to destroy all efforts to normalise relations with its neighbours – the Abraham Accords, the reconciliation with Arab countries, the joint commitment to security. The fact that this has not been fully successful is thanks to international cooperation. This is a glimmer of hope in these difficult times. At the meeting with our UK and US partners in Munich, which I hosted, five Arab countries made it clear – and have reiterated this point also in New York just recently – that they, as Arab countries, are standing up for Israel’s security because this serves the cause of peace in the region as a whole.

Germany must play its part in this. That’s why we need to hold debates here in this country, including on security guarantees. What must be done to ensure that Gaza never again becomes a base for brutal terrorist violence? What does it mean for Lebanon to ensure that terrorists can never again attack Israel from there? We must tackle this task together, even if it is difficult, and even if we only take baby steps forward. If we do not, then the words “never again!” are just an empty phrase today.

I would like to make this point very clear because we all wish that we had achieved more, of course. But if we give up hope now that there will be a shared, secure life for the people in the Middle East – for everyone – then terrorism will have won. It is the task of German foreign policy and German domestic policy to prevent precisely this. “Never again!” means standing up for Israel’s security, for protecting Jewish life in Germany. “Never again!” means doing the right thing every day and not what is convenient.

Thank you very much.

And I cannot, at this point, let the following stand – I apologise to the speaker from my parliamentary group, Madam President, in view of my time at the podium, but I’m speaking here as a representative of the German Government – because such debates are also broadcast around the world. A moment ago, the speaker from the AfD mentioned the family of a hostage, to whom, as he said, you would bow because they had also seen the suffering in Gaza. In the second part of his speech, however, all of that was turned on its head. You spoke here about the tens of thousands that the former Federal Chancellor had brought into this country.

In so doing, you turned all of the strength to differentiate that this family of the hostages had mustered on its head.

You spoke about tens of thousands of people, and thus also about the Palestinian girl who, as some of you may recall, addressed Angela Merkel in a talk show on TV. You have denied all these people their human dignity.

That is not Germany’s policy; that is not the “never again!” that the German Bundestag stands for. The basis of the policies pursued by the democratic parties in this Parliament is that “never again!” applies to the human dignity of all people. That is Germany’s policy. I’d like to make that clear at this point, especially to the families of the hostages who have endured such terrible suffering since 7 October.