• Ephera@lemmy.ml
    ·
    18 hours ago

    The article is misleading. The official statement is that, because of our Nazi past, we have a special relationship with both the international Court of Justice and with Israel, so we're just not going to formulate a decision until Netanyahu actually plans to visit Germany. In effect, this means that Netanyahu cannot visit Germany, because there is a non-zero chance of him getting arrested.

    In a press conference, when repeatedly asked to clarify this statement, the speaker explained why this statement is so neutral once more and then said "I could get carried away, saying I find it hard to imagine that arrests might be carried out in Germany on this basis".

    So, it's formulated as:

    • his opinion
    • that he's explicitly saying, he's not actually saying it,
    • and after repeatedly pointing out that the official position is not that.