On the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz endorsed Israel's attack on Iran in an interview with public broadcaster ZDF. He said, “This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us. I can only say that I have the utmost respect for the Israeli army and the Israeli leadership for having had the courage to do this.”

In another interview with the ARD public broadcaster, Merz advocated violent regime change in Tehran. “It would be good if this regime came to an end,” he said. If the Iranian regime is not prepared to enter into talks, then “Israel will go all the way.” 

Merz is saying more than he intended. His statement that Israel is doing “the dirty work for all of us” exposes the official propaganda of the government and the media justifying the genocide in Gaza and the attack on Iran as shameless lies. This is not about protecting Jewish life or Israel’s “right to exist,” but about subjugating the entire Middle East to imperialist control.

Trump, Merz, Starmer, Macron, and other imperialist leaders behave like mafia bosses, threatening Ayatollah Khamenei and other Iranian leaders with murder, the use of bunker-busting weapons, and even nuclear bombs. Israel, meanwhile, is responsible for the “dirty work” reserved for the lowest level of the mafia hierarchy, the picciotti: the underhanded assassination of high-ranking military personnel and scientists, the bombing of residential areas and infrastructure, and the terrorisation of the population.

Contrary to official mythology, the goal of German support for Israel has never been to make amends for the Shoah, the genocide of six million Jews. The Zionist state, based on the violent expulsion and oppression of the Palestinians, has served Germany and other imperialist powers from the outset as a military bridgehead in a region that has vast reserves of raw materials, serves as an important sales market and investment location, and is of enormous geostrategic importance, including vis-à-vis Russia and China.

Merz's statement that Israel is responsible for the “dirty work” shows the contempt with which the German bourgeoisie looks down on its accomplice in the Middle East.

For the Israeli population, the Zionist state is proving to be a dead end, as evidenced by the Netanyahu regime's slide into dictatorial forms of rule and its brutal military crackdown, which also threatens the lives of the population.

The idea that antisemitism—this medieval curse revived by modern capitalism to divide the working class and strengthen fascist forces—could be overcome by the establishment of a Jewish state was a deceptive illusion from the beginning. Banishing antisemitism is only possible through the unification of the international working class in the struggle for a socialist perspective that overcomes all forms of social, ethnic, and national oppression. Zionism, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, was directed against this socialist perspective, which at that time enjoyed broad support among the Jewish working class.

Merz can only act so arrogantly because he is supported by all the established parties and the increasingly co-opted media. Germany and the other imperialist powers have never forgiven the Iranian people for sweeping away the Shah's regime in a powerful revolution in 1979. 

The regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, brought to power in 1953 by a CIA coup, served the US, Germany, and Israel as a bastion in the Middle East. It was notorious for the brutal torture methods of its secret service, SAVAK. In 1979, broad sections of the working class, the urban poor, and the middle class rose up against the Shah's dictatorship. A strike by Iranian oil workers finally broke its back.

However, due to the bankruptcy of the left-wing parties, especially the Stalinist Tudeh Party, the revolution was decapitated. The working class, which had played a decisive role in the overthrow of the Shah, was suppressed. A new capitalist regime, supported by the bazaar merchants and other more traditional sections of the bourgeoisie, consolidated its power under the leadership of the Shiite clergy.

But despite numerous efforts by the regime headed by the ayatollahs to come to terms with imperialism, it never succeeded in restoring the old relations. Under growing pressure from the US and Europe, Tehran instead strengthened its ties with Russia and China.

The efforts of Trump, Merz, and Netanyahu to bring about regime change in Tehran are not aimed at establishing “democracy,” but at restoring a dictatorship like the one that existed under the Shah. It is significant that Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the deposed Shah, is once again calling from his American exile for the people to fight against the regime of the Islamic Republic. He accused Khamenei on X of hiding in a bunker “like a frightened rat.”

In Germany, all the established parties support Merz's course. The Greens are particularly aggressive in this regard, and have also played a leading role in fuelling the war in Ukraine.

Green politician Volker Beck accused Sahra Wagenknecht in the Jüdische Allgemeine of being “Moscow's fifth column” and “Tehran's anti-Zionist storm troopers” because she had expressed mild criticism of the Israeli attack, while fully supporting “Israel's right to self-defence.” 

The origins of the Greens are closely linked to opposition to the Shah's regime. The brutal beatings of demonstrators by Iranian secret service agents and the murder of student Benno Ohnesorg during a visit by the Shah to Berlin in 1967 triggered the massive student movement, whose leaders founded the Greens a decade later. Their current support for the wars against Russia and Iran shows how fundamentally this party has transformed itself into a pillar of German militarism. 

As a party of government, the Socialist Democratic Party (SPD) bears full responsibility for Merz's course. At most, it is concerned that its support for a new devastating war in the Middle East will cost it even more votes. That is why the SPD parliamentary group’s foreign policy spokesman, Adis Ahmetović, criticised: “The tone of the chancellor is not very helpful at this point.” As if it were a matter of a false tone and not war crimes.

As usual, the Left Party is also trying to defuse opposition to the war with critical words to prevent practical consequences from being drawn.

Party leader Jan van Aken accused Merz of mocking the victims of war and violence by using the term “dirty work.”

“Merz should try cleaning a toilet. Then he would know what dirty work means,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “When people are killed, Merz calls it dirty work.”

But von Aken shares all the premises of Merz's politics. He described the Iranian nuclear bomb as the “greatest danger” that must be prevented and defended Israel's right to “self-defence.” He merely propagated the illusion that Israel and its German and American backers could also achieve their predatory goals through “clever diplomacy.”

“The Iranian nuclear bomb must be prevented. This is possible through clever negotiations. Or through a dirty war. We can still decide which path we want to take,” van Aken emphasised.

Many media outlets also enthusiastically support Merz's course. Tagesspiegel editor-in-chief Christian Tretbar wrote in a commentary that the chancellor's “very blunt, undiplomatic words” are “exactly right.” Israel has “taken the initiative” and could “perhaps bring about historic change in the entire region. To do so, it must take out the Iranian armed forces, nuclear facilities, and command structure. Perhaps Israel must even go further and attack the political leadership directly.”

That sounds “incredibly brutal,” according to Tretbar. Jerusalem is taking “a very high risk.” There are doubts “whether this mission is compatible with international law.” Netanyahu is “putting all his eggs in one basket.” And yet, Tretbar emphasised: “Israel must take the risk if it wants to guarantee its own security and increase the chances of stability and peace throughout the region.” No one should “reflexively criticise Israel for doing what Friedrich Merz calls ‘dirty work’ for this opportunity.”

These calls for breaking the law, military terror, and war must be understood as a warning signal. A government and a media that pursue geostrategic goals in this way will use the same brutal means against the “enemy within,” against political opposition to war and social cuts—as Trump is already demonstrating in the US.