Israel ‘looking forward’ to Friedrich Merz’s tenure, says envoy to Germany
Ron Prosor is first foreign ambassador invited to meeting of heads of German states; he says the far-right AfD party has elements that the Jewish State can’t talk to
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Israel is “looking forward” to German chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz assuming office, Israel’s ambassador in Berlin has said, anticipating close diplomatic support from the center-right politician.
“We’re looking forward to having him as chancellor,” said Ron Prosor, speaking to the Times of Israel by phone last week. “Germany at the end of the day is the second most important strategic partner in all dimensions.”
In the wake of the Holocaust, Germany emerged as one of Israel’s closest diplomatic and security allies.
Friedrich Merz and the center-right CDU/CSU political alliance came out first in Germany’s political elections last month, and are in the process of putting together a coalition.
“Friedrich Merz is clear on this,” said Prosor. “He says Germany will not [enact] any weapons embargo on Israel. Israel has a right to defend itself, and Germany would support that.”
During a speech at the Körber Foundation in Berlin last month, Merz criticized the Olaf Scholz government for what he claimed was an arms embargo against Israel amid its war against Hamas in Gaza.
“I will put an end to what is more or less an export embargo under the current government. We will say that whatever Israel needs to exercise its right to self-defense, they will get,” said Merz.
In October, Merz accused Scholz’s government of delaying arms exports to Israel, after a significant drop in weapons shipments was noted in 2024 compared with 2023.
“He also came out publicly and said that he’s going to invite Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu for a visit in Germany” despite an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest, Prosor noted.
“I told him that we should see each other soon after the government is formed,” Merz said of his call with Netanyahu after winning the election. “In the event that he plans to visit Germany, I have committed myself to find a way to ensure that he can visit Germany and leave again without being arrested.”
Merz also said it was a “completely absurd idea” that an Israeli prime minister could not visit Germany.
The ICC issued arrest warrants in November against Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for allegedly targeting civilians and using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Israel has strongly rejected the accusations, with some calling the arrest warrants antisemitic.
The positive trend in Israel-Germany ties is apparent in local politics as well. Earlier this month, Prosor was the first foreign ambassador to participate in the quarterly Conference of Minister Presidents.
The meeting of the heads of the 16 federal states marked 60 years of bilateral ties.
Minister presidents have significant power in Germany. Every state has its own budget and parliament, and the largest state — North Rhine-Westphalia — has over 18 million people.
Since he assumed his post in 2022, Prosor has visited all 16 German states at least once.
“This gives a people-to-people element,” explained Prosor, “and the relationship is then not just on the federal level, but also on the state level.”
Still, there are reasons to worry, said Prosor, as parties on the far right and far left gain support.
“It’s like Germany is being split between the extreme left and the extreme right,” he warned.
Among German voters below the age of 25, the democratic socialist Die Linke gained the most support with 25 percent. The far-right AfD garnered 21 percent of the youth vote.
“This basically shows Germany — wake up,” explained Prosor. “If you don’t wake up and you don’t give answers to the people, this is the trajectory.
“Basically, they’re telling a clear message to the big parties, ‘Hey, we are voting AfD because you’re not giving us answers, not to immigration, not to our economic problems. If you don’t do that, the next elections, we’re probably going to get more.”
Since its inception in 2013, the Alternative für Deutschland party has been plagued by antisemitic scandals, and the leadership appears to be split over its attitude towards Israel and the war in Gaza.
The right-wing populist party has presented itself as a strong ally of Israel. In 2019, it demanded a complete and enforceable ban on all Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions activity in Germany. After the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror onslaught in southern Israel, the first press release by AfD in the Bundestag stated: “Israel and the Jewish people can count on our full solidarity.”
But there are dissenting voices. AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla criticized Scholz for his ongoing support for Israel in the form of weapons exports to the Jewish state.
The Diaspora Ministry did not invite AfD to a controversial conference on antisemitism this week that senior far-right European politicians are attending.
AfD has had a long list of antisemitic incidents since its founding in 2013.
One of many examples is Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, who since 2016 has been a member of parliament in the eastern region of Sachsen-Anhalt. In 2018, Tillschneider said that the Central Council of Jews in Germany is “using Islam to bring about multicultural relations.” Most instances of this replacement migration theory aren’t quite as explicitly anti-Jewish; often, terms such as “globalist elites” are used, but many see these as dogwhistles.
In 2021, Bavarian AfD activist Stefan Bauer compared coronavirus vaccines to the Zyklon-B gas used by the Nazis to exterminate European Jews during the Holocaust. While Bauer was unceremoniously kicked out of the party, Tillschneider is still a member of the Sachsen-Anhalt regional parliament. He recently compared Israel’s methods in its war against Hamas in Gaza to the Holocaust.
There are two lenses through which to view contacts with AfD, said Prosor.
“One issue is the moral issue, which is clear,” said Prosor. “The second one is the cost-benefit.”
“If Israel talks to the AfD, we won’t be able to talk to any party here in Germany,” he explained. “Yes, not everyone is a Nazi, but there are elements there that the nation-state of the Jewish people cannot converse with.”
Bart Schut contributed to this report.
