Chancellor Merz has said Russia is behind many drone flights near airports
Germany says 14 nationals held in Israel over Gaza flotilla
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil says tax exemptions for electric vehicles will be extended A weeklong Europe-wide campaign to draw attention to the importance of concentrating while driving is kicking off on Monday
Here is a roundup of news and top stories from and about Germany from Monday, October 6:
Merz accuses Putin of waging hybrid war on Germany
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of conducting a “hybrid war” against Germany, saying Moscow’s campaign extends beyond Ukraine to target all of Europe.
“He is waging an information war against us. He is waging a military war against Ukraine and this war is directed against all of us,” Merz told broadcaster NTV on Monday.
He said Putin aims to undermine Europe’s political order and that supporting Ukraine is in Germany’s interest to defend open, liberal societies.
Asked whether Putin was waging war on Germany, Merz replied: “He is waging a hybrid war against us.”
The chancellor linked recent drone incidents across Europe to Russian intimidation efforts, saying, “We will not be intimidated and we will defend ourselves effectively.”
Merz said he is considering speaking directly with Putin but noted that “every attempt to talk to him at the moment is ending in even tougher attacks on Ukraine.”
He added that he had a heated exchange with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at last week’s EU meeting in Copenhagen after Orban accused Germany of avoiding negotiations.
Merz said he reminded Orban that Putin responded to his own visits to Kyiv and Moscow last year by bombing a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
There are now almost daily attacks on critical infrastructure in Europe. In the same week that drones were spotted over several European airports, a cyberattack against security software used by many of those same hubs, including Berlin Airport, left passengers and personnel scrambling. At the same time, Germany’s Deutsche Bahn rail service experienced the latest in a series of high-level sabotage incidents. For more news on Russia’s war in Ukraine, check out our blog here.
Germany says 14 nationals held in Israel over Gaza flotilla
Fourteen German nationals are in Israeli custody for taking part in a Gaza aid flotilla, the German Foreign Office has said, as Israel deported 171 activists to Europe, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
Under Israeli law, the 14 detainees must appear before a judge within 96 hours. A Foreign Office spokesman said they are expected to be deported to Germany “very, very soon afterward.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said 171 other activists were flown to Greece and Slovakia on Monday and released photos of Thunberg at an Israeli airport.
The Israeli Navy intercepted more than 40 boats carrying aid for Gaza in the Mediterranean last week, detaining more than 400 crew members from several countries in an operation that drew international attention.
For more on Israel and the wider crisis in the Middle East, take a look at our blog here.
Jewish people in Germany experiencing ‘increasing hate and violence’
Hostility and even violence toward Jewish people living in Germany has increased markedly since deadly Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the launch of an Israeli offensive in Gaza in retribution two years ago, the domestic intelligence agency has warned.
“We observe how calls are being made in Germany — sometimes covertly, sometimes openly — for attacks on (pro-)Jewish and (pro-)Israeli institutions,” said Sinan Selen, the vice president of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
Among recent examples, he said, are suspected plans to attack the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, which were uncovered in February, and a knife attack at the Holocaust memorial, also in the German capital.
Selen said the number of antisemitic posts on the internet had also grown significantly.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian extremists conducted brutal attacks in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 and abducting more than 250 others as hostages.
Israel responded with a military offensive in which more than 67,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health authority.
Its figures, while they do not differentiate between militants and civilians, are considered generally reliable by independent bodies such as the UN.
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate illuminated in support of Gaza hostages
Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate will be illuminated with the words “Bring them home now” on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel led by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Hostages are still being held under inhumane conditions, said Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, who leads the government in the city-state.
“Hamas must finally accept the peace plan in full and release the hostages,” said Wegner. “We will never forget the fate of the people who were kidnapped, murdered, brutally tortured and abused by Hamas — and we will continue to stand resolutely against hatred, incitement and antisemitism.”
Some 20 of the more than 250 hostages taken by the Palestinian militants are believed to be still alive. Others have returned home in prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas or other militant groups, while dozens have died in captivity, some killed by militants or in Israeli airstrikes.
German e-commerce continues to grow in 2025
Online trade in Germany has grown in the third quarter of 2025, continuing an upward trend, according to the e-commerce association BEVH.
Turnover in online trading rose 2.8% in comparison with the same period last year, reaching a total volume of almost €18 billion ($21 billion).
Asian retailers accounted for almost 5% of the total turnover, a new record, with growth of 7% — twice that of the entire sector.
The sale of used items rose by 27.6%.
The biggest growth was seen in the sector of everyday products such as drugstore articles and medications, which rose by 11.1% and 8.6% respectively, reaching a volume of €2.2 billion.
“This shows that consumers regard online traders as equal providers for all products they regularly need in their daily lives,” said Martin Gross-Albenhausen, the deputy managing director of BEVH.
He said discussions about excluding prescription medications from online sale were thus “entirely at odds with reality.”
Online marketplaces, which include Chinese ones such as Temu and Aliexpress, accounted for 54.4% of the market in Germany, with independent providers suffering slight drops in sales.
Taliban government has agreed ‘in principle’ to deportations from Germany — Interior Ministry
Afghanistan’s Taliban government has agreed in principle to take back its nationals from Germany, a German Interior Ministry spokesperson said on Monday.
“The Afghan de facto government has agreed in principle to repatriation by air if the people we are repatriating are identified as Afghan nationals,” the spokesperson said.
She added that Berlin was only in technical contact with representatives of the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Negotiating with the Taliban at any level has been condemned by several human rights groups, as the fundamentalist Islamist group has not yet been recognized by any country bar Russia as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan after it returned to power in August 2021 following a 21-year break.
News of the deportation agreement with Germany comes as the UN’s top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, agreed to establish a probe into human rights violations in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Since returning to power, the Taliban has in particular resumed its oppression of girls and women, suspending laws that protect their rights, including one that had criminalized 22 forms of violence against women, among them rape and forced marriage.
Merz voices doubts over voluntary army recruitment plans
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has expressed skepticism about Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’ model for increasing personnel numbers in the German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, through voluntary service.
“I suspect that it won’t stick at volunteering alone,” Merz said on public ARD television on Sunday evening.
However, he said that he supported the model proposed by Pistorius in principle. Pistorius is a member of the Social Democrats (SPD), the junior partner in the coalition government.
“For now, we want to try to manage that voluntarily with the SPD,” he said, however adding: “I am skeptical. If we succeed, all the better.”
He said he supported his Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) call for a mandatory year of service for men and women in Germany, but he conceded that a constitutional change would be necessary for that to happen.
Ahead of the February elections, the CDU called for the establishment of a service year that could be completed either in the Bundeswehr or in civil society organizations.
Pistorius has defended his model himself, saying in the Monday episode of the “Table.Today” podcast that young recruits were already coming.
“We have the numbers on growth,” he said. “In this year alone, we will employ 30% more military personnel than last year,” he said.
“We are building up accommodation and training capacities so that by the year 2029, 2030 — and that is exactly the time frame we are talking about — we will have trained 100,000 additional reservists.”
“The direction is right,” Pistorius added. “There is no reason to believe it won’t work.”
A bill with the voluntary military service model was to have receive a first reading in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday. But the debate on the bill has now been postponed to late October amid conservative calls to make military service compulsory.
Russia likely culprit behind most drones, Merz says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he believed that Russia is responsible for most of the drone flights near airports and other sensitive sites in recent weeks in Germany and other European countries.
Speaking on public ARD television, Merz conceded that there are also copycat operators who have launched private drones, which, he said, is illegal near airports.
“But we are investigating the matter, regardless of where it is coming from. It is a serious threat to our security,” he said.
Merz said it was the police’s responsibility to defend against drones, but they currently lack the adequate equipment to do so.
He said authorities were also looking into the potential for the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, to participate in drone defense.
“For the time being, however, I can reassure the public: Up to now, we haven’t had a single incident with an armed drone,” he said. “They are attempts at reconnaissance, and also attempts to create uncertainty in the population.”
Police to monitor distracted drivers
German police will be taking part this week in a Europe-wide campaign to draw attention to the sometimes lethal danger of driving without paying proper attention.
Among other things, they will be watching out for drivers who are using cellphones, tablets or laptops while at the wheel.
The “Focus on the Road” campaign, which runs until Sunday October 12, has been organized by Roadpol, a network of traffic police across the European Union.
The network has the aim of reducing the number of people injured or killed in traffic accidents on Europe’s roads.
Accident researchers constantly stress that even a few seconds of distraction at the wheel can reduce one’s ability to react to a dangerous situation in time.
German government plans to extend EV tax exemption
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil has told the dpa news agency that the German government plans to extend current tax exemptions for electric vehicles.
Under the draft legislation, the exemption would cover electric vehicles registered by the end of 2030.
Currently, the tax exemption for electric vehicles is set to expire on January 1, 2026.
However, the maximum 10-year tax exemption would run only until December 31, 2035, in order to create an incentive to buy early, the Finance Ministry said.
Klingbeil said the car tax exemption was one element of a wider package of measures to boost Germany’s automobile sector that will be discussed at an automotive industry summit with Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Thursday.
“We now need a strong package to guide Germany’s automotive industry into the future and secure jobs,” Klingbeil said. “We want the best cars to continue to be made in Germany.”
“Everyone knows that the future is electric,” he said.
Welcome to our coverage
Guten Tag from the DW newsroom on the banks of the Rhine River in Bonn.
Monday is kicking off with news regarding Germany’s car industry, one of the main backbones of its economy, as the government is seeking to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles by extending tax benefits to buyers.
But both EV drivers and those at the wheel of conventional combustion vehicles had better keep their eyes very much on the road this week, with German police participating in a Europe-wide campaign to warn of the dangers of driving unattentively.
We invite you to follow a selection of stories and analysis from Germany here in our blog.