Vowing to stand by Israel, German president says ties will withstand spat
Rivlin tells Steinmeier that Israel cannot be an occupying force in its own land, amid tensions over criticism of Jewish state
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial on Sunday, declaring that Germany has an obligation to stand by Israel due to its Nazi past and saying ties were strong enough to endure “turbulence.”
Steinmeier’s visit, his first to Israel since becoming president in March and first to any country in that capacity outside Europe, comes after a recent row between Germany’s foreign minister and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem’s Hall of Remembrance, Steinmeier said Germany’s responsibility for the Holocaust meant supporting Israel.
“We Germans brought upon ourselves incomprehensible blame. At this place the memory becomes pain, mourning and shame. By taking responsibility for what happened we stand by Israel and [together] work for a common future,” the Hebrew-language Ynet news site quoted him as saying.
Visiting Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Steinmeier said ties were solid enough to withstand recent tensions and Rivlin said Israel cannot be considered an occupying force since the land belongs to the Jewish people.
“The foundations (of the Israeli-German) relationship are so broad that I think they can endure some turbulence like that taking place in the last 14 days,” Steinmeier said at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu canceled an April 25 meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel after the visiting diplomat declined to call off his meetings with rights groups critical of Israel’s government.
“The unique relationship of our two states is too important to be measured solely by the question of who a legitimate interlocutor should be,” Steinmeier said.
Steinmeier, who is not scheduled to meet any potentially controversial group during his visit, said trust and understanding between Israel and Germany should result in no limitations.
“I believe that we can and should be able to lead an open and honest dialogue with one another, and to my mind, need no new rules,” he said.
“We should not impose any restrictions, we should have the trust that friends like we are will be able to interpret what they hear in the right way,” he said.
Host Rivlin addressed the controversy, saying that “Israel is a vibrant democracy with different voices, varied and critical, even if at times these voices are hard to accept and infuriating.”
Rivlin also thanked his German counterpart for his country’s vote against a UNESCO resolution last week denying Israeli claims to Jerusalem and labeling the Jewish state as “the occupying power” in the city.
“A people cannot be occupiers in their own land and we cannot be conquerors in our capital,” he said.
Steinmeier first met with Rivlin when he shared a beer with him Saturday evening at Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda outdoor market.
Steinmeier later met with Netanyahu, who called on him to lead the international community in pressing Palestinian leadership to work against incitement he says is continuing to fuel violence.
“What we would like to see is a change and the change would come from an international demand for accountability from the Palestinian authority and ask them to back their words outside with their words inside, that is teach their children peace,” Netanyahu said, hinting at his criticism last week of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for telling US President Donald Trump that the Palestinians educate their children in “a culture of peace,” comments that the Israeli leader rejected as being untrue.
In addition to visiting Yad Vashem, Steinmeier also visited Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, where he laid a wreath for the late Israeli leader Shimon Peres, whom he praised as a “true friend.”
“I had the privilege to know [Peres], he was a true friend of Germany,” Channel 2 quoted Steinmeier as saying.
Last month, Netanyahu canceled a planned meeting with Gabriel after the latter refused to cancel a sit-down with Breaking the Silence, an NGO that collects anonymous testimonies from IDF soldiers on alleged human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Gabriel also met with B’Tselem, another group that deals with human rights issues and campaigns against Israeli settlement building.
Steinmeier is not expected to meet with Breaking the Silence. But according to a report on Spiegel Online, he will make a point of stressing the importance of civil society organizations for the country’s democracy during a speech Sunday evening at the Hebrew University.
Citing anonymous sources close to the president, Germany’s leading online news site reported that Steinmeier will say that groups such as Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem should not be viewed as treasonous but rather as making Israel’s democracy stronger.
During Netanyahu’s standoff with Gabriel, the Prime Minister’s Office said: “Diplomats are welcome to meet with representatives of civil society but Prime Minister Netanyahu will not meet with those who lend legitimacy to organizations that call for the criminalization of Israeli soldiers.”
Relations between Israel and Germany have been frosty recently. Earlier this year, Chancellor Angela Merkel postponed bilateral government consultations originally planned for May 10, citing scheduling difficulties ahead of national elections in September. However, she did find time to host Abbas last month.
In private conversations, German and Israeli officials acknowledged that Merkel’s cancellation was due to her frustration over Israeli legislation to retroactively authorize illegal West Bank outposts.
Raphael Ahren and Stuart Winer contributed to this report.
