The head of the Federal Government could reflect upon some of the following:

Article II of the Genocide Convention (1951), an international treaty to which Israel is a Contracting Party (as is Germany), defines genocide as:

... any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

The crime of genocide, beyond the popular impression of politically co-ordinated mass-murder, encompasses intentional debilitation of a people, their privation of essential resources such as food, water, medical supplies. Persons liable to prosecution for the crime of genocide may be responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals (Article IV) for acts of complicity in, conspiracy, public incitement, or attempts to commit the crime (Article III).

Whereas, for much of the twentieth century, infringements of UN human rights' treaties have been rarely enforceable, the advent of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (2002) introduced a mechanism of accountability that could avoid the political impasse generated by permanent members' veto in the UN Security Council. A Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021, mandated inter alia to identify and ensure accountability of perpetrators of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

Taken in the abstract, Israel's 'right to defend itself' comprises a vacuous statement of rights in law claimed by all peoples, bordering on the politically tautologous. But this is not what governmental officials mean if one scands the mantra - otherwise there would be no jeopardy in publicly proclaiming similarly for Palestinian rights, or the democratically-elected representatives of Gazans, Hamas. Materially, the proclamation from Israel's friends or allies, asymmetrically delivered, signifies constructive approval and/or special support for Israeli military operations. However, where allies include states parties to treaties, instruments or conventions addressing international humanitarian law, those states parties should neither encourage, aid nor assist in their violation, and further do everything in their power to prevent or have terminated such violations by other parties, including the pursuit and the bringing to justice of perpetrators of grave breaches of them. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations has documented widespread evidence of such violations across the occupied Palestinian territories.