German Chancellor Angela Merkel assured Israel of the German government's support during her farewell visit on Sunday (October 10).

The visit was originally scheduled for August, but was postponed due to the withdrawal of US forces and their allies, including Germany, from Afghanistan, paving the way for the Taliban to return to power.

Angela Merkel, who arrived late Saturday evening in Tel Aviv, met Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem on Sunday morning as part of her eighth and final official visit as Chancellor to Israel, the country where she left her mark.

"The relationship between Germany and Israel was strong, but under your tenure it has grown stronger than it ever was. It is no longer just an alliance, but a true friendship. and that we owe to your leadership, ”said Naftali Bennett. 

Angela Merkel, who is due to visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem later on Sunday, welcomed the fact that after the Jewish genocide by Nazi Germany relations were able to reach "such a high" level between two countries.  

"The issue of Israel's security will always remain of central importance to any German government," added the chancellor, whose years in power in the Israeli press praised, the daily Israel Hayom (right) saying "no chancellor German had done as much to improve relations between Germany and Israel as Angela Merkel ".  

Concerns over the Iranian nuclear issue 

The two leaders are also due to discuss on Sunday the Iranian nuclear program which has "crossed all the red lines", Naftali Bennett recently told the UN, asserting in the wake that the Hebrew state "was not going to allow" Tehran. to acquire atomic weapons. 

Israel is trying in this regard to convince the European troika (France, United Kingdom and Germany) to avoid entering into a new agreement with Iran which could eventually allow it to acquire a nuclear bomb. 

During her 16 years in power, Angela Merkel made Israel's right to defend itself against its enemies one of the priorities of German foreign policy, while pleading for a dialogue on this sensitive issue.

No visit to Palestinian territory 

For this latest visit to Jerusalem, Angela Merkel has not planned a detour to Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank, although Germany remains in favor of the solution of "two states", one Palestine. independent and viable alongside Israel.

Today, more than 675,000 Israeli settlers live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967. And, although she openly opposes colonization, which is illegal under international law, Angela Merkel remains criticized by human rights activists who accuse it of not having a strong enough discourse on this issue.  

"The new German government will have to put human rights at the center of its policy on Israel and Palestine," said Omar Shakir, specialist in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for Human Rights Watch this weekend.  

Asked by journalists on this issue, Angela Merkel said she had discussed several subjects with her interlocutor, but that "the subject of the settlements had not yet been addressed, it is a more delicate question".  

"I think we have to be concerned about the situation of Israel's neighbors, so I believe there is only one way," she added, referring to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Naftali Bennett against a "terrorist state"

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett who declared himself "pragmatic" reiterated his opposition to a Palestinian state.  

"The meaning of a Palestinian state is to have probably a terrorist state about seven minutes from where I live," he said, adding that his government was putting in place "various actions on the ground to facilitate things for everybody".   

If no hook is planned by Ramallah, no meeting is planned either with Benjamin Netanyahu, current leader of the Israeli opposition, in power for most (twelve years) of the Merkel years.

The Chancellor is preparing to give way while the Social Democrats, Greens and German Liberals are trying to form an unprecedented coalition in Germany, without Angela Merkel's conservatives.

With AFP

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