The picture shows Netanyahu and Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Delmer said that Israel has "full support" from U.S. President Trump, but that the military offensive on Gaza City needs to be completed in a limited time.

According to reports, Trump hopes that Israel will "make a quick decision" and does not want Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (HamasThe fighting was further delayed.

During the same meeting, Israeli General Staff Chief Zamil clashed with Treasury Minister Smootrich and National Security Minister Ben-Gewil.Zamil said the Israeli military was unsure how long it would take to evacuate the civilians in Gaza City.Smootrich called for the Israeli army to siege Gaza City, so that there is no water, no electricity, and those who do not evacuate "either die of hunger or surrender."

According to another reference source, citing a report on the website of the US "Capitol Hill" Daily on August 23, Trump hinted on the 22nd that Israel's rapid military action may be the best way to save the surviving hostages.

Trump said on the 22nd that not all Israelis want a ceasefire and a hostage agreement, and suggested that Israel's rapid military operation may be the best way to save the surviving hostages. Trump backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to launch an offensive to capture Gaza City.

¡°This situation has to end. It¡¯s blackmail, it has to end, and we¡¯ll see what happens. I actually think that in many ways, if you get in, really get in and get started, they¡¯ll be safer,¡± he told reporters in his Oval Office.

Trump tweeted on social media: ¡°Only when we face and destroy Hamas, we can see the remaining hostages come back... go to the ground to win, or stop playing!¡±

According to reports,The Pentagon building.U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Haggers last met with his Israeli counterparts on July 18 and confirmed that the United States ¡°will continue to support Israel¡¯s self-defense capabilities as part of President Trump¡¯s mission to seek peace with power.¡±

Gaza City, located in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, is regarded by Israel as the Hamas headquarters and home of detainees.The Israeli army announced on the 20th that it will take control of the outskirts of the Gaza Strip and prepare for the capture of the Gaza Strip.According to Israeli media reports, a military offensive on Gaza Strip is expected to begin in mid-September.

Extended reading

Media: "The conscience of the Western world" hurts again, and Germany seems to have changed its position on Israel

Recently, from Germany¡¯s Foreign Minister, Waldfuhr¡¯s visit to Israel, to Prime Minister Merts¡¯ announcement of a suspension of arms exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza, Germany¡¯s stance on Israel seems to have changed substantially.

Nowadays, when discussing German-Israeli relations in Germany, one of the words that cannot be avoided is "national rationality." It can rise to this level because discussions about it involve a political taboo, behind which Germany left a huge wound on Europe during World War II. For decades since the war, people have been trying various methods to heal this wound.

In March 2008, then German Prime Minister Angela Merkel spoke in the Israeli parliament that the historic responsibility for Israeli security was part of Germany¡¯s ¡°national reason.¡±

German Chancellor Merz

"National Reason"

The term ¡°state rationality¡± is derived from the Latin ¡°ratio status¡±, which dates back hundreds of years to the political thinkers Machiavelli and Botero¡¯s argument on the theory of rule. Machiavelli believes that the interests of the state can be put above all interests and feels necessary to abolish laws and suspend morals. Butterey argues that just looking fair is not enough, and that monarchical power must be based on some form of subordinate consent. Those medieval arguments have been separated from modern political practice, but content and connections remain.

Previously, when "national reason" was used, it was often like this: terrorists tried to extort money from the country by taking hostages or planes. Some people would say,"'National reason 'requires us to never agree to their demands because the country cannot be coerced."

Karol Schmitt of the Social-Democratic Party is one of the fathers of the German Constitution and has made it clear that "national reason" should not override everything. Merkel brought this gradually forgotten term back into political and social reality. In her 2008 speech, she first congratulated Israel on its 60th anniversary, and then talked about the special ties established between Germany and Israel due to the Nazi massacre of 6 million Jews, believing that Germany has a "special historical responsibility" towards Israel. Merkel also added that "at testing times, these cannot be just empty words." She was referring to the Western perspective at the time that Israel was threatened by Iran's nuclear weapons and the unstable situation in Lebanon. Here, Merkel reiterated her position at the United Nations against Iran building nuclear weapons.

After Merkel left office, the "traffic light" government further simplified her statement and wrote "Israel's security is our 'national rationality'" into the ruling agreement. After Mertz came to power, he continued this practice.

However, ¡°national reason¡± is not uncontroversial. The German Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science jurist, Orl, believes that citing ¡°national reason¡± on Israeli issues is actually wrong, because it originally implied values such as national interests above individual freedom and all other interests, rather than the survival of other countries.

Former German Prime Minister Angela Merkel

In 2012, then-German President Gauck refused to repeat the term "national reason" during his visit to Israel. Reports say that current German President Steinmeier also doubts whether Merkel fully realizes the meaning of this statement. Gauck and Steinmeier's doubts are not directly related to their historical attitudes. Recently, Gauck also said on the program that due to his well-known Nazi guilt after the war, he would never be able to become an enemy of Israel. Steinmeier also said at the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel that after the Holocaust in World War II, Israel's willingness to shake hands was "a gift that Germans have no right to expect," but "we accept this gift and always keep Germany in mind. Guilty and our responsibilities. Sixty years later, I am still grateful and humble for this gift of reconciliation."

"Historical responsibility" is often used to justify a certain German diplomatic line, but it does not fully reflect the complexity of the Middle East conflict. If support for Israel is really Germany's "national rationality", then it takes precedence over all other political options, including protecting its own survival. However, in fact, any country's diplomacy is based first and foremost on safeguarding its own interests.

Historian Benz pointed out that Germany and the EU regard themselves as some kind of guardians, and "moral shackles" make it difficult for them to take a critical stance. A politician's words in a specific context may have some rhetorical skills or personal emotional factors, but overly simplistic thinking combined with emotion will make all voices who are skeptical of the Israeli government's practices easily labeled as "lack of morality" or even "anti-Semitism."

Moral obligation

Germany's special "historical responsibility" also has to do with moral obligations, including the safety of Jews in Germany and zero tolerance for anti-Semitism. This sincere atonement is a sensitive and obvious feature of contemporary German political culture. Schools and public institutions promote discussion of Nazi crimes day after day, and there is a proper term like Holocaust, which refers specifically to the Holocaust of Jews.

A good example is the Constitutional Court¡¯s interpretation of Article 130 of the Criminal Code as ¡°crimes of incitement to ethnic hatred.¡± Article 19(1) of the German Constitution has a ¡°prohibition of individual cases¡± principle, meaning that restrictive laws must apply to an unlimited number of circumstances and not only to a particular situation, but also to exceptions. Article 130 of the Criminal Code reflects a firm reflection on history, defining all possible acts of incitement to hatred or violence against a particular population as crimes, which specifically lists paragraph 3: public recognition, denial or mitigation of the Holocaust as a crime.

In some legal debates, it has been questioned whether Article 130 (3) is so-called individual case law, as it refers specifically to Nazi acts, specific historical periods and groups of people. The Constitutional Court's interpretation is that this paragraph concerns human dignity and public peace and is not contrary to the Constitution.

Another example is the government¡¯s support for the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage and communities, the promotion of integration, and the contribution to the German Jewish Central Council. Unlike other ethnic minority organizations, the Jewish Central Council is a public entity, i.e. an organization supported by the state, which belongs to the public administration system. The organization was founded in the early 1950s and initially dedicated to seeking state compensation for the victims of the Holocaust, and also played a role in the establishment of relations in Germany. Since 2003, the German government has contributed 22 million euros (about RMB 1,84 billion) annually to its contributions, in accordance with the Treaty revised in 2023.

Homeland and overseas morals are thus intertwined. From a German official point of view, the border that Israel needed to protect was always the border before 1967. But is this border clearly distinguished from other disputed lands in practice? Today, in Germany, the slogan ¡°from river to sea, Palestine will be free¡± is being debated on when it should be considered a crime. In 2024, a woman was convicted by a Berlin district court for yelling ¡°from river to sea¡± during the march. The Supreme Court has not yet expressed its opinion on such cases. At present, there is consensus that if the use of the slogan is found to be for the purposes of embellishment of terrorist attacks or the promotion of violence to destroy Israel, it can be convicted under article 86a of the German Criminal Code of

Since October 2023, with the arrival of a new round of Gaza conflict and the long-term deadlock, the other side of Germany's "moral obligation" is a torn conscience and the Middle East projected under a specific filter. Specifically in political practice, an expert on Middle East issues from the German Political and Science Foundation pointed out: The two pillars of Germany's policy towards Israel are Germany's historical responsibility and principles such as human rights and international law, and Israel's military actions in Gaza have violated these principles. Reestablishing the balance between these two pillars is undoubtedly necessary and more ethical.

Changes in conscience

Due to historical and moral factors, Germany has always been of good will to Israel, and "national reason" has long been a firmly established principle in national action that transcends everyday political differences.

However, whether this is really beneficial to regional stability and Israel's security has been controversial from the beginning. After returning to Germany, Muller, who accompanied Wadfur on his visit, was interviewed and said that "Germany can't just warn". Israeli historian Zimmerman believes that the decision to stop providing certain weapons to the Gaza Strip is instead in line with national interest considerations: "If you support Israel's security, you cannot support Israel's occupation of Gaza. If you support Israel's security and survival, you must support Israel in some way to establish ties with the Palestinians." Whether you want to promote regional peace or Israel wants to ensure its long-term survival, you need to see a clear political vision. But for now, hope is slim, and hatred has spread all over Gaza. It is not feasible to force the other side to yield by force, and the brutal massacre and hostage-taking of innocent civilians have led to a global crusade.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

What makes many people painful and puzzled is that since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Germany, which has been the "conscience of the Western world" after the war, suddenly seems to have less conscience. At present, Mueller hopes that Israel can cherish the influence of Germany, which is still willing to talk to it, in the face of increasing international isolation. In the program with Gao Ke, the host asked frankly: "Why can't we just find a suitable language for Israel?"

In fact, there is a huge rift between the old and new "consciences". The mantra that has prevailed in Germany since the war is "never again". Often, people fill in the blanks according to their own understanding: no more war, no more madness, no more extremes, and no more genocide. As the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is revealed day after day, there is a debate about whether the situation there should be described as "genocide". The social philosopher Adorno has warned that reflection on history must not stop at forms and slogans, but must be alert to its social and psychological mechanisms.

(The author is a sociologist at the University of Hamburg, Germany.)