Jerusalem: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Israeli security would be a top priority for “every German government”, during a farewell tour in the Jewish state on Sunday near the end of the 16-year term in the office.
Merkel, made the eighth and final visit as Chancellor to Israel before retiring from politics, held talks with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett before visiting Jerusalem Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem.
“After crime against Humanity Shoah (Holocaust), it is possible to reset and rebuild the relationship between Germany,” Merkel said, standing with Bennett.
“I want to use this opportunity to emphasize that Israeli security topics will always be very important and the main topic of each German government.” Bennett praised Merkel by fostering the relationship between countries “never stronger” and described it as “European moral compass” because of its support for Israel.
Before the visit, Bennett said he and the German leader were expected to discuss regional security and “especially Iranian nuclear problems”.
Merkel was originally planned to visit in August, but delayed his journey during our chaotic troops and allies, including Germany, from Afghanistan.
This 67-year-old trained physicist is to accept the honorary doctorate from Technion’s Haifa – Israeli Institute of Technology.
He, however, did not have a plan to meet with the opposition leader of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, which Merkel deals with a vast prime minister during 2009 to 2021.
Bennett coalition which varies ideologically overthrow netanyahu in June.
Chancellor is also not scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.
Under his leadership, Germany has advocated a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades but he has faced criticism from activists because he did not pressure Israel to end his military occupation in the Palestinian region which began in 1967.
Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestinian Director At Human Rights Watch, criticized Merkel for the work of 54 years Israel as “temporary”.
“Maintaining this fiction has enabled the Merkel government to avoid dealing with the reality of apartheid and the persecution of millions of Palestinians,” he said in a statement.
“The new German government must place human rights at the center of Israeli and Palestine,” he added.
More than 600,000 Israeli settlers have moved to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Palestine expects will be part of the future country.
Israel has maintained a blockade in two million Gaza residents since the Islamic Movement Hamas seized control in 2007.
Germany and Israel falsified a strong diplomatic bond in decades after World War II, with Berlin committed to the preservation of Jewish countries in logging against the Holocaust.
In 2008, Merkel stood before the Israeli parliament was declared in the name of the Germans in a historical address.
Former Prime Minister Netanyahu repeatedly described Iran as the biggest threat to the Jews since the Holocaust.
But the policy of Iran’s nuclear agreement in 2015, signed and supported by Germany, has become a rare difference point between Berlin and Israel.
Israel officially opposed the agreement that saw Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions and criticized Germany efforts, the United States and other signs to turn it on after former President Donald Trump was premiered in 2018.