Israel and Germany have restarted bilateral consultations after longstanding disagreements about settlement building. Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to press the German leader to leave the Iran nuclear deal.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Israel on Thursday, a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused European leaders of “coddling Iran’s dictators.” The two leaders were set to resume regular government consultations between the two nations that were paused in 2017 after Merkel expressed her disapproval of Israeli settlement building in the West Bank. This is according to DW..
There had been no shortage of controversy ahead of the visit, with Netanyahu expected to press Merkel and other EU leaders to follow US President Donald Trump’s lead and pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last week, Netanyahu claimed that the EU had adopted a policy of “appeasement” towards Tehran, a word evoking how European leaders had failed to stand up to Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. He also mentioned the EU’s “absolutely crazy” demands of Israel, including the call to stop displacing Palestinians for settlement building.
Ahead of her arrival on Wednesday, children in the West Bank Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar put up posters imploring the chancellor to stop the demolition of their homes. Merkel had previously voiced opposition to plans to raze the village. Israel maintains that the hamlet was built illegally and dangerously close to a highway.
Merkel also visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial on Thursday and was set to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Haifa.
In the Yad Vashem guest book, Merkel mentioned the “Kristallnacht” (Night of Broken Glass) pogrom, and said that it and the horrors of the Holocaust “gave rise to Germany’s everlasting responsibility for this crime and to fight anti-Semitism, xenophobia, hatred and violence.”
The leader said that they planned to discuss trade and innovation, but concerns about rising anti-Semitism in Germany were also likely to be addressed.
