Israel’s envoy to Germany ‘unequivocally condemns’ Smotrich’s attack on chancellor

Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor condemns Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s attack on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying it “erodes the memory of the Holocaust and presents it in a completely distorted way.”

Speaking to Kan Radio, Prosor says he “unequivocally condemn[s]” Smotrich’s comments.

After Merz expressed “deep concern” over settlement expansion in the West Bank and said that “there must be no de facto annexation” there, Smotrich wrote on social media: “You will not force us into ghettos again.”

Prosor says: “It is entirely possible and legitimate to argue with the Germans… Political disagreement exists all the time, but Germany is a great friend of Israel.”

While he acknowledges that “many things Germany does are not acceptable to us, and things we do are not acceptable to them,” he asserts that “Germany has proven, especially amid all the criticism of Israel in Europe, that it is our number one friend.”