Germany has dropped its opposition to supplying Saudi Arabia with Eurofighter jets, though it has warned it would take several years for the aircraft to be built and delivered.
Annalena Baerbock, the Green foreign minister, said Saudi Arabia’s role in foiling attacks on Israel meant Berlin could no longer justify blocking the UK’s aspirations to supply the military aircraft.
Her position was backed by Robert Habeck, economy minister and deputy chancellor, and a fellow Green. He acknowledged that the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia “still doesn’t meet our standards” and was “still ambivalent”. But “Saudi Arabian defensive missiles are also protecting Israel”.