On 3 June, for the first time, Germany failed to secure a rotating seat on the UN Security Council, falling 23 votes short. The announcement was made by Annalena Baerbock, Germany's former foreign minister and current president of the UN General Assembly.
The vote was a verdict on Germany's standing in the world, and even Berlin knows why.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul acknowledged that the country had lost votes over its support for Israel's war on Gaza, or as he put it, "Germany's special responsibility for Israel".
He was quick to add that Germany would continue to fulfil that responsibility, despite the international embarrassment.
At a moment when rogue states such as the United States and Israel are waging wars and pursuing coercive campaigns against countries of their choosing - from Iran and Yemen to Lebanon, Palestine and Venezuela - the rest of the world is looking for international partners who can help weather the storm, not fuel it.
Germany has shown that it is willing to undermine international law and bend human rights principles in defence of what many countries increasingly view as indefensible. It has failed to convince the world that it is a beacon of diplomacy. Instead, it has exposed the very historical liabilities it has spent decades trying to overcome.
Germany is the second-largest supplier of arms to Israel after the US, responsible for roughly 30 percent of Israel's arms imports between 2019 and 2023.
In August, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced he would limit arms deliveries to Israel. But the suspension applied only to new export licences for weapons that could be used in Gaza - not to previously approved exports, which continued to flow.
The facade collapsed in November shortly after Germany announced it was lifting even that partial restriction and resuming arms exports.
It is not only the weapons sales that have the world questioning Germany's international standing, but also the lengths to which it is willing to go to curtail and undermine international law.
It is not only the weapons sales that have the world questioning Germany's international standing, but also the lengths to which it is willing to go to curtail and undermine international law
On 4 June, European Union foreign ministers were set to vote on sanctions against two extremist Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Germany, however, prevented the vote from taking place and continues to block the EU sanctions.
This was not the first time. In April, Germany blocked a vote to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement - through which Israel gains preferential access to the European market and EU funding - despite a majority of EU member states being in favour.
Germany described the attempt to hold a vote as "inappropriate" and prevented any EU action.
In December 2023, South Africa brought a case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that Israel is conducting a genocide. Germany not only publicly rejected these allegations almost immediately, but also declared its intention to intervene directly in the ICJ proceedings.
"Particularly in light of its own history, upholding the integrity of the United Nations Genocide Convention is an expression of Germany's special responsibility," the German government said, citing its commitment to protect Israel.
Yet as legal pressure mounted - most notably through Nicaragua's separate case challenging Germany's support for Israel before the ICJ - Berlin ultimately stepped back and did not follow through with its planned intervention.
Germany consistently invokes "historical responsibility" as a central justification whenever it faces criticism for its positions on international law and its unwavering political and military support for Israel.
This framing cannot be understood in isolation from the doctrine of Staatsrason, which has effectively elevated support for Israel into a quasi-state principle that often overrides other international legal obligations and human rights considerations.
In March 2008, former Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Israeli Knesset that the security of Israel was part of Germany's Staatsrason: its reason of state.
