Berlin court dismisses Gaza residents’ lawsuits on German arms exports
The Berlin Administrative Court determined that the plaintiffs’ requests were inadmissible because the German government had already altered its policy, suspending approval of new weapons exports that could potentially be used in Gaza.
In one lawsuit, a Palestinian resident of Gaza asked the German government to stop approving arms export licenses to Israel until Israeli forces withdrew from the region. The court ruled the request for preventive legal protection could not proceed, reasoning that such measures are only granted if there is a reasonable likelihood that the government would make similar decisions in the near future. The court cited a statement from Chancellor Friedrich Merz in August 2025, confirming that no new export licenses for weapons potentially used in Gaza would be approved, making judicial intervention unnecessary.
In a second case, four Gaza residents contested a license issued in late October 2023 allowing a German arms manufacturer to export 3,000 portable anti-tank weapons to Israel. After the weapons were delivered, the plaintiffs sought a court declaration that the approval was “unlawful.” The court dismissed this claim as well, noting there was no concrete risk that the government would issue comparable licenses under similar circumstances in the future.
The court emphasized that decisions regarding weapons exports fall within the core responsibilities of the executive branch, which cannot be predicted with certainty. It added that the situation in Gaza has evolved significantly since autumn 2023, reducing the likelihood that the German government would make the same licensing decisions feared by the plaintiffs.
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