Germany's top court dismisses Palestinian challenge to arms exports to Israel

Germany's top court on Thursday rejected a Palestinian man's constitutional complaint seeking to block German arms exports to Israel.

The Federal Constitutional Court acknowledged that the Constitution requires the state to protect international humanitarian law, but ruled that this does not give rise to specific actionable rights that would be enforceable by individuals before the courts.

The case was brought to the court by a Gaza resident who lost his wife and child in Israeli military strikes and sought to prevent German manufacturers from delivering spare tank parts to Israel. Earlier, lower German courts dismissed the man’s complaints on procedural grounds.

The ruling disappointed human rights groups that had hoped for a precedent allowing civilians endangered by German weapons to access German courts.

Germany remains Israel’s second-largest arms supplier, despite documented war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. Berlin authorised sales totaling more than €492 million ($585 million) between October 7 2023 – the day Israel’s two-year offensive on Gaza began – and June 5 2025.