The Israel-Hamas war has reignited a debate at the top of Germany’s coalition government whether to lift its ban on a multibillion-euro sale of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
Berlin has exercised a veto on the export of the jets since 2018, when it banned Riyadh from importing the aircraft over its role in the war in Yemen and the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Typhoons are built by a pan-European consortium in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. Each country can veto exports of the planes to other nations. The UK, which has historic defence ties to Riyadh and has sold 72 jets to the kingdom, has been trying to secure a follow-on order for several years.