28
SEP
2026
The German-Israeli military cooperation began - as the arms cooperation (german-foreign-policy.com reported [1]) - already at its core already towards the end of the 1950s, when German military instructed Israeli soldiers in the use of German weapons systems supplied at that time. For the 1980s, joint military training courses are sporadically occupied for the mountaineers; from 1998 - in addition to exchange programs for officer candidates - "regular meetings at the General Staff level of the Army" took place. 2] According to the Federal Government, between 1984 and 2014, "up to 493" Israeli soldiers, including officers, participated in training and other programs of the Bundeswehr; conversely, 254 German soldiers were in Israel for training programs and exercises.[ 3] Of course, it is unclear whether the figures correspond to the full scope: As can be seen from a response from the Federal Government to a request in the Bundestag, measures of military cooperation with Israel are sometimes kept secret.[ 4] The cooperation is by no means limited to the army; from 2017, the German Air Force participated several times in the Israeli Air Force maneuver Blue Flag. The Inspector of the Air Force, Ingo Gerhartz, declared in 2022 that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were "the most important partner outside of NATO" for his sub-force. 5]
German-Israeli military cooperation has been systematically intensified since the 1990s. This has exemplary Lieutenant General a.D. Helmut Willmann 2002, who from 1996 to 2001 as an inspector of the Army was involved, among other things, in institutionalizing the relations of his units with the Israeli land forces. Because at the time they were in the process of converting the Bundeswehr "from the peace army to the army", they had of course also sought contact with armies "who already had more experience than we had," Willmann explained. 6] It was "clear" to everyone "that the cooperation with the Israeli army of course also brings us professional advantages". In 2014, for example, a training trip of German military personnel to Israel was announced - apparently only realized late in 2015, where house and tunnel fighting was on the program. 7] There is a great interest in the "specific operational experiences of the Israeli armed forces", it was said from the German Army Command.[ 8] With a view to the increasingly intense military relations, the military attaché at the German embassy in Tel Aviv, Colonel Jürgen Haffner, said in October 2021, that there was "an incredibly close interest of the Bundeswehr in the Israeli armed forces and vice versa"; the frequency of mutual visits is "incredibly dense". 9]
Currently - at a time in which the Bundeswehr is to become immediately "capable of war" - its cooperation with the war-experienced Israeli armed forces is being further strengthened. On the 20th On February 1, eight months after Israel's first war of aggression against Iran and a few days before the second American-Israeli attack on the country, the Inspector of the German Army, Lieutenant General Christian Freuding, and the Commander of the Israeli Ground Forces, Major General Nadav Lotan, signed a cooperation agreement to closely link the land forces of both countries on four fields. As it is said, as it is said by citing an army spokesman, joint "training and exercises", a "joint capacity development", as well as the "exchange of operational principles" and "exchange programs, especially for young officers and officer candidates". 10] On the occasion of the signing of the agreement, Freuding was informed by Lotan "about the tactical lessons from the current war", according to a report; which was meant by Israel's current wars is unclear. 11] It goes on to say that with their "unsurpassed expertise in the field of ground operations" the IDF helps the Bundeswehr "to adapt to an increasingly unstable global environment". There is "an extremely functional alliance".
Beyond the arms and the military, the Federal Republic and Israel are also expanding the cooperation of their repression and cyber security authorities. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed this on the 11th. January a "Cyber and Security Pact" which, among other things, is intended to intensify the cooperation of the police apparatuses of both countries - it is already considered close - and also to improve, for example, "drone detection and drone defense", to promote the "construction of a common AI and cyber innovation center" and also to promote "exchange and networking on the subject of Cyberdome". According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the "Cyberdome" is "a semi-automated system for detection, analysis and response to cyber attacks". 12] Whether "reaction" also means counterattacks - the so-called hackback - remains open. Overall, according to the Federal Interior Minister Dobrindt, expects practical findings from a country with a high frequency of operations from the "exchange with Israel". 13]
With the expansion of the already close cooperation of the arms industries [14], the armed forces as well as the repression and security apparatuses of both countries, Germany and Israel are moving closer together in the central fields of internal and external use of state violence as never before. While the German side can learn and benefit from the Israeli experience and skills, Israel binds the Federal Republic even more closely to itself - in a situation in which the wars for dominance in the Middle East are escalating more and more and more. On the one hand, Western dominance is faltering; Iran has so far prevailed in the war against the USA and Israel, while Saudi Arabia has allied itself with Pakistan and Turkey in the new Mecca agreement in order to achieve greater independence from the United States in terms of security in the future (german-foreign-policy.com reported [15]). On the other hand, Israel is in the process of expanding its power in the Middle East in its current wars; it thus offers itself for the German ruling elites as an anchor of influence in a geostrategically significant but fiercely contested region.
[1] S. on arms cooperation with Israel.
[2] Otfried Nassauer, Christopher Steinmetz: Armaments cooperation between Germany and Israel. Berlin Information Center for Transatlantic Security. Research Report 2003.1. Berlin, September 2003. S. also "In the national interest of Germany" (III).
[3], [4] Response of the Federal Government to the Small Question of the MPs Christine Buchholz, Jan van Aken, Annette Groth, another MP and the Left Party. German Bundestag, printed matter 18/2787. Berlin, 09.10.2014.
[5] Stephan Jeglinski: Inspector of the Air Force awarded Ernst Cramer Medal. bundeswehr.de 24.05.2022.
[6] Daniel Marwecki: Absolution? Israel and the German reason of state. Göttingen 2024.
[7] Thorsten Jungholt: Bundeswehr should learn the tunnel fight in Israel. welt.de 10.08.2014.
[8] Thorsten Jungholt: Bundeswehr should learn the house fight in Israel. welt.de 30.08.2015.
[9] "I don't want to trade with anyone". bundeswehr.de 10/21/2021.
[10] German and Israeli army agree to cooperate. israelnetz.com 25.02.2026.
[11] John Meister: Deepening military ties between IDF and Bundeswehr. blogs.timesofisrael.com 21.02.2026.
[12] Cooperation on cybersecurity with Israel is being expanded. bmi.bund.de 12.01.2026.
[13] Response of the Federal Government to the Small Question of the Members Jan Köstering, Clara Bünger, Doris Achelwilm, other MPs and the Left Party. German Bundestag, printed matter 21/4306. Berlin, 02/23/2026.
[14] S. on arms cooperation with Israel.