BERLIN, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Germany is still heatedly debating tougher security measures roughly two weeks after authorities arrested three terror suspects who planned to carry out massive bombings against U.S. institutions and other targets.

Defense Minister Josef Jung' title='Franz Josef Jung' class='tpstyle'>Franz Josef Jung, of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, sparked the latest disagreement within Germany’s grand coalition government when he told a German news magazine that in case of an emergency, he would give the order to shoot down a plane hijacked by terrorists.

"If there were no other way, I would give the order to shoot (the plane) down to protect our people," Jung told the latest edition of German news magazine Focus, which hit the stands Monday.

The problem with that statement: Germany’s highest court has forbidden such a move. The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe last year scrapped a law allowing the military to shoot down passenger planes hijacked for terrorist attacks, arguing it violated the basic life and human dignity principles.

Jung has said, however, that if the “democratic order is in danger, other rules apply.”