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A Bedouin child from Khan al-Ahmar holds a poster of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Palestinian flags in front of the German representation in Ramallah, West Bank, on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. Children implore Merkel to pressure Israel to suspend plans for demolition of the camp outside an Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem. On the poster, it is written in Arabic "save Khan al-Ahmar" and "save our school". (Nasser Nasser / Associated Press)
JERUSALEM – German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Israel Wednesday for the latest in a series of joint government consultations highlighting the close ties that unite countries seven decades after the Holocaust, even as recent developments have put to test the close ties that unite them.
His two-day visit is expected to focus on bilateral economic issues, with a focus on innovation, technology, and development projects. But in the background, Israeli and German policies vis-à-vis Iran and the Palestinians will be very different.
Merkel, accompanied by a large part of her cabinet, a large business delegation and her new Tsar in charge of the fight against anti-Semitism, will visit the Israeli memorial Yad Vashem of the Holocaust and receive an honorary doctorate from Haifa University. This is the seventh such government meeting since Israel and Germany established this tradition 10 years ago.
Merkel went to Jerusalem soon after landing at dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Germany is Israel's largest trading partner in Europe and is perhaps its most powerful ally in recent decades. Israel was created three years after the end of the Second World War and the German government paid billions of dollars in reparations to Holocaust survivors and positioned itself as a leader in the fight against terrorism. 39; antisemitism.
But the differences were exacerbated after the election of US President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu was one of Trump's most fervent international supporters, congratulating him on being removed from the Iranian nuclear deal that Merkel and other world leaders helped broker in 2015 This agreement, which has limited the Iranian nuclear program, does not include enough safeguards to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Trump also largely refrained from criticizing Israeli settlements in the West Bank – a frequent complaint from Europe – recognizing Jerusalem as its capital and transferring the US Embassy there. It has also cut funding to the Palestinians and fully blamed the stalled peace talks in the Middle East.
Netanyahu's relations with Merkel were cordial and sometimes even cool. Merkel continued to defend the traditional approach to peacemaking, calling for the creation of a Palestinian state and urging Israel to refrain from unilateral action to undermine its perspective. Germany, for example, is among the European countries that have called on Israel to refrain from carrying out its plans to demolish a hamlet in the West Bank that was illegally built.
Israel has offered to resettle some 180 Bedouin Palestinians from Khan al-Ahmar camp a few kilometers away. But Palestinians and their European supporters say the demolition is aimed at displacing the Palestinians in favor of settlement expansion and would be a devastating blow to the hopes of a Palestinian state.
The Israeli Supreme Court recently rejected a final appeal against the plans and residents are preparing for the move every day. It is unlikely that Israeli forces will do this during Merkel's brief stay, for fear of triggering a crisis.
Whatever the case may be, Israeli officials say that they are not expecting this issue – or Merkel's long-standing preference to maintain agreement on the issue. Iran – eclipses the visit, which should lead to new economic agreements, the creation of a formal youth exchange and a renewed commitment against anti-Semitism, after Israel has sounded the 39, alarm about several recent cases in Germany.
Shimon Stein, Israel's former ambassador to Germany, said that despite the growing alliances of the Israeli government with several Eastern European countries in the battle against radical Islam, Germany remains its main European supporter .
"These routine consultations have created a symbolism for the relationship that should not be overlooked," he said. "Germany does not always agree with Israel … but she is Israel's leading supporter as a Jewish and democratic state."
The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1965, after which Germany began paying reparations for the Nazi-led holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were murdered.
The first joint consultation took place in March 2008, when Merkel and his cabinet arrived on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence. During this three-day visit, Merkel addressed the Israeli parliament, in German, and expressed her shame for the Holocaust. The 20-minute speech earned Merkel a standing ovation.
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