TEL AVIV (dpa-AFX) – Defense politicians in the Bundestag got an idea of the “Arrow 3” missile defense system in Israel. It was explained “which systems are important,” said the chairwoman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), on Tuesday after a visit to the defense ministry in Tel Aviv. “Of course, Arrow 3 is not uninteresting, because it’s about fending off missiles that shoot up so high that we don’t have the tools in Germany to fend off such missiles.”
At the same time, she emphasized that the ten-strong delegation’s trip to Israel had been planned for a long time, and that they were “not on a shopping spree”. “So we’re not here with bags of money to go shopping.” Rather, it is about an exchange with representatives of a country “that has been living in a state of war since it came into existence.”
The demand for a missile defense shield for Germany became louder after Russia’s attack on Ukraine had also changed the threat situation in Europe. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said on Sunday in the ARD program “Anne Will” that the federal government is considering setting up a missile protection shield for the whole of Germany based on the Israeli model.
Strack-Zimmermann said: “We have the situation in Germany and Europe that we have been experiencing a war in the heart of Europe for four weeks.” After the visit to Israel, we now have to “calmly think together in Berlin about what’s in store for us in the near future.” It’s no secret that Germany has gaps in its ground and air defenses, “and in view of the war in Ukraine, we see that we have to compensate for this weakness.”
However, any new defense system must be compatible “with what we already have in Europe, what NATO has.” Every purchase must also be coordinated with the European partners. “It’s about organizing the best possible protection for Germany, for Europe, for NATO.” As for the speed: “We have no time to lose, we have already lost a lot of time.”/le/DP/he