Tourism minister won’t visit Germany because of Holocaust

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin on Saturday said he won’t visit Germany on principle, due to the Holocaust.

Levin, who was absent from an international tourism expo in Berlin last week, said he declined to attend the event in light of the “difficult history between Israel and Germany in the World War II period,” Israel Hayom reported Sunday.

“I see great importance in Israel-Germany relations, and to that end I have met with several German officials in Israel. However, I do feel a great difficulty visiting Germany,” he said.

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Levin, a member of the ruling Likud party, is not the only Israeli minister to oppose visiting Germany over the Nazis’ campaign to wipe out Europe’s Jews some 75 years ago.

Last month, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, also a member of Likud, decided not to accompany Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior ministers on an official visit to Germany.

“As a son of survivors I do not travel to Germany. My father escaped on a train from Budapest, and my mother was imprisoned in seven concentration camps in Germany and Poland by the time she was 15,” he told Israel Hayom last month.

“I maintain the necessary contacts demanded by the responsibilities of my job, but I do not take part in ceremonies and I do not visit,” he said.

According to the report, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz replaced Katz in Berlin for a series of bilateral meetings between Israeli and German governments in February.

During the visit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her support for Israel, and vowed Berlin would not normalize its relations with Iran unless or until it recognized the Jewish state.