Turkey

German relations with Turkey go back to a 1761 treaty of friendship and trade between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. In addition to a military alliance that culminated in cooperation in World War i, the two joined forces in infrastructure projects such as the Istanbul-Baghdad railway. During World War ii, many persecuted Germans fled to Turkey, and in 1961, after the two nations signed the Labor Recruitment Agreement, many Turkish citizens immigrated to Germany.

On a visit to Turkey in April, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “valuable friend.” Germany is Turkey’s most important trading partner and one of its biggest foreign investors. In 2023, bilateral trade rose to a record €55 billion (us$59.7 billion).

Turkey is openly resentful of the United States and Western values yet a valuable friend to Germany. It has fought against U.S. interests in Syria and elsewhere, yet still receives a large share of Germany’s weapon exports. In 2018 and 2019, Turkey was Germany’s biggest arms customer. Then in October 2019, it invaded Syria using German-built tanks, and Germany was pressured into ending weapons exports that could be used in the war. Yet Germany continued to deliver submarines to Turkey.

Last December, Erdoğan compared Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and expressed support for Hamas. “We’ve seen the Nazi camps of Israel,” he noted. A 2021 Gallup poll found Turkey to be the angriest nation in the world after Lebanon. Psalm 83 highlights how this anger will be directed in the future.

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states

German relations with Saudi Arabia date back to the 1929 Treaty of Friendship with the Kingdom of Hejaz, Nejd and Dependencies. Today, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are Germany’s most important trading partners in the Arab world. The U.A.E. alone hosts some 1,200 German companies whose offices serve as headquarters for the entire region, as well as parts of Africa and Asia.

Germany depends heavily on crude oil from the Middle East and sees Saudi Arabia’s large reserves as a crucial oil source. The German Economics Ministry website notes that Saudi Arabia can “compensate for seasonal peaks in demand or temporary shortfalls by other oil producers.”

From 2014 to 2017, Germany overlooked the restriction on selling weapons to conflict zones and made Saudi Arabia one of its top customers. The U.A.E., Bahrain and Qatar also profited from the new policy. The Gulf states are increasingly home to German military industry and expertise with various licenses and factories. From 2017 to 2020, the Saudi Arabian Military Industries were led by a German ceo from the Düsseldorf Rheinmetall Group.

German military exports temporarily ended in 2018 but have revived since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. Recently the U.S. and other nations have sought to diplomatically ally Israel and Saudi Arabia. But in February, the Saudi Foreign Ministry noted that “there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem.”

Many see Israel-Saudi diplomatic relations as the solution to the crisis. Prophecy shows that it will, in fact, create bigger problems and enable greater German influence in the region.

Jordan

Germany is Jordan’s most important European trading partner; diplomatic relations go back to 1953. In 2023, Germany’s ambassador to Jordan said, “Seventy years of diplomatic relations have shown that Germany and Jordan can rely on each other in times of need. The scope of our common interests is mirrored in the scope and magnitude of our cooperation.” He noted that Germany is Jordan’s second-biggest bilateral donor, with €600 million ($653 million) in assistance committed in 2022 alone.

In recent years, Bundeswehr units have been stationed in Jordan in the fight against the Islamic State. Jordan also served as a base for German pilots to drop aid packets into Gaza.

Soon after the October 7 terrorist attack, King Abdullah ii met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin to find common ground in the war. On May 2, Pope Francis received Abdullah at the Vatican to discuss the war and Jerusalem’s future. The king emphasized the need to put an end to the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and “the violence of the Israeli settlers against the Palestinians.” Watch for Catholic Europe and Jordan to expand their cooperation, hastening the division of Jerusalem.

Syria

After World War ii, S.S. Hauptsturmführer Alois Brunner and other Nazis played a crucial role in building Syria’s intelligence services. “In Syrian detention centers, their techniques are used to this day,” the New Yorker commented in 2021. By 1956 most of the old Nazis had moved to Argentina. “But one who stayed was Alois Brunner, once the right hand of Adolf Eichmann, the organizer of the Shoah,” mena Research Center commented. “He lived as a Dr. Georg Fischer in the diplomatic quarter of Damascus.” Brunner reportedly served as adviser to Syrian President Hafez Assad and instructed his government on torture tactics. The bbc reported in 2014 that Brunner died around 2010 in Syria—unrepentant of his crimes.

It is suspected that the most important man who enabled Brunner’s escape was Reinhard Gehlen, first president of Germany’s intelligence service (bnd). The bnd destroyed documents about Brunner in the 1990s, adding to the mystery.

East Germany pursued diplomatic relations with Syria in the late 1960s, and Syria’s recognition of East Germany in July 1969 led to relations with Syria’s air force and army. The Stasi also trained Syria’s secret service. This laid the foundation for cooperation in the 1990s with the united Germany. In 2001, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder met with Syrian ruler Bashar Assad to develop cooperation and embark on a joint battle against terrorism.

Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011, official cooperation has been canceled. But from 2012 to the end of 2022, Berlin contributed some $18.5 billion to help people in Syria and neighboring countries affected by the crisis.

The Trumpet expects Syria to play a crucial role in helping Germany double-cross Israel.

Lebanon

During his second journey to the Orient in 1898, German Emperor Wilhelm ii visited Beirut. “Politically and economically, Lebanon and Germany were interlinked for centuries,” German think tank Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung reported 2018. “A positive and friendly relationship between Lebanese and Germans shaped the diplomatic relationship between both states to this day.”

After the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), Germany supported Lebanon’s reconstruction, which led to a bilateral investment trade agreement.

German troops have been part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, ensuring maritime security, since 2006. The German and Lebanese navies not only protect Lebanon’s coast together, but Lebanese sailors also receive training from German officers. Germany is a member of the International Support Group in Lebanon, launched in September 2013.

Germany is the third-largest donor to Lebanon after the U.S. and the EU. On May 2, the German-led EU announced another €1 billion package for Lebanon, even as the nation has been threatening to attack Israel.

In The King of the South, Gerald Flurry writes: “Iran and other nations keep arming the endless stream of terrorists in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. The only way to turn it around is to stop Iran.” In 2014, he concluded: “Because of its high population of Christian Arabs, Lebanon has become a linchpin for the Psalm 83 alliance.” The foundation for this cooperation has been laid.

Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank

German relations with Palestinian Arabs flourished during World War ii. On April 8, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations held up a photo of Hitler meeting with Haj Amin al-Husseini, grand mufti of Jerusalem, in 1941, noting that he was “one of the founding fathers of Palestinian nationalism” and an enthusiastic Nazi supporter.

The Palestinian movement was inspired by people who wanted to annihilate the Jews. “And from then until today, the root of this conflict has not changed,” Gilad Erdan said. “It is not a political conflict or about partitioning land. It is solely about the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.”

In 2023, Germany tripled its humanitarian assistance for Gaza to €203 million, making it the largest donor to the Palestinian territories. Germany’s stated goal is “the establishment of a future Palestinian state as part of a two‑state solution negotiated between the parties to the conflict.”

These efforts will not lead to Palestinian well-being, but to a prophesied conflict.