Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said goodbye to the outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday in Jerusalem.
"Dear Ruvi, your term of office ends, our friendship remains," said Steinmeier at the end of an emotional speech.
Rivlin said "Thank you" in German with a smile before they both hugged.
Steinmeier traced the path of mutual friendship in his speech.
Steinmeier also said that the latest armed conflict between Israel and the ruling Hamas in the Gaza Strip shows "that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has by no means settled down."
In the long term, there is no alternative to a two-state solution.
At the moment, however, it is primarily a matter of creating a minimum level of trust between the two sides.
He also wants to talk to the new Israeli government about this.
Germany and Israel agree that a nuclear armament of Iran must be prevented.
There are only disagreements about the right way to get there.
Rivlin praised Steinmeier as a close friend.
It is of great symbolic importance that the German President is the last head of state he will receive.
Germany under Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel were important partners in the fight against anti-Semitism.
His friendship with Steinmeier is "proof that relationships between peoples are based on personal meetings".
Steinmeier then wanted to meet the already elected successor Izchak Herzog for lunch.
The German President also speaks to the new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Jair Lapid in Jerusalem.
At the beginning of his visit on Wednesday, Steinmeier called for vigorous action against anti-Semitism in Germany and other parts of the world. In a speech on the occasion of the award of an Order of Merit to four people for their commitment to the German-Israeli relationship in Jaffa, Steinmeier said that for Germans it should "never become an empty ritual" to remember the Holocaust, to fight anti-Semitism and to do so To stand side of Israel.