An open letter from The Greens New South Wales

The chairpersons Buendnis 90 / Die Gruenen
Franziska Brandtner
Felix Banaszak

Platz vor dem Neuen Tor 1
10115 Berlin
Germany

Re: Green leadership in foreign policy in the Middle East –
An open letter from The Greens New South Wales

Dear Franziska and Felix,

We are writing to you on behalf of the membership of The Greens New South Wales, a member body of the Australian Greens, pursuant to a motion passed by our State Delegates Council in December.

We are obliged to convey the mounting disquiet amongst our membership in light of the discrepancy between foundational Greens principles and the recent discharge of German Middle Eastern policy under the ministry of Annalena Baerbock. While we understand your federal election has now been called, the minister will continue to serve until the election, and the election will be contested on the record of Greens in government.

We readily acknowledge the constraints in which Die Gruenen have operated over this parliamentary term: being a junior partner in a coalition government and working within Germany’s established foreign policy positions.

That said, in light of Israel’s grave breaches of international law and genocide, we feel that it is beyond time to lead with our Greens values of nonviolence, social justice, and ecological sustainability. The world’s two leading international human rights organisations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have both concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

We are greatly disturbed to read news reports of the approval of continued German armaments shipments to Israel (Times of Israel – 15 December: “Germany approves over $100 million in arms exports to Israel, angering rights groups”). We note that defence export approvals by the German government to Israel have increased tenfold since 2022. The expanded export of these armaments to Israel by the German government is deplorable, as is the failure to condemn Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and aggression in Lebanon and Syria.

As a party to the Genocide Convention, Germany is obligated to uphold the convention and to prevent genocide in all its forms. Germany must work to promote the compliance of all states with international law.

This letter is intended not only to convey our heartfelt concerns as a sister Greens party but also to offer our encouragement and solidarity in furthering our common Greens causes for peace, non-violent conflict resolution, justice and human rights.

We send our best wishes for your success in the upcoming German federal elections. Our further aspiration is for a greater awareness of, and action on, Green politics across the globe and in the Middle East in particular.

Yours sincerely,

The Greens NSW Committee of Management, on behalf of all The Greens NSW member