Friedrich Merz reaffirms modern Germany’s commitment to the Jewish state on first visit to Israel by European leader since Gaza ceasefire
December 7, 2025 14:06
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to “keep alive the memory” of the victims of the Holocaust and affirmed his nation’s commitment to Israel while visiting Yad Vashem.
Speaking this morning as the first European leader to visit the Jewish state since the Gaza ceasefire came into effect, he said: “Germany must stand up for the existence and security of Israel.”
Wearing a kippah, Merz laid a wreath at the memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah and acknowledged Germany’s “enduring historical responsibility”. He wrote in the guestbook: “We will keep alive the memory.”
His two-day visit is focused on German-Israeli relations and bolstering US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
Merz said yesterday: “We hope that this peace process can enter its next phase and, in particular, that Hamas can be disarmed.”
The visit comes after recent months have tested the German government’s postwar principle of solidarity with Israel. In August, Merz announced a partial arms embargo, a move prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “disappointing” at the time.
Last month, Berlin restored the suspended arms exports, saying the situation in Gaza had stabilised following Trump’s peace plan.
Merz met with Netanyahu and the rest of his cabinet in Jerusalem on Sunday morning.
The prime minister said: “I speak to many world leaders, but when I speak to Merz, it’s an honest and open conversation, even when we have disagreements.”
The discussion covered the two-state solution, which Merz supports although Germany has not joined the UK and France in recognising a state of Palestine.
Netanyahu said he and Merz “have a different point of view, obviously, because the purpose of a Palestinian state is to destroy the one and only Jewish state”.
He added: “We believe there’s a path to advance a broader peace with the Arab states, and a path also to establish a workable peace with our Palestinian neighbours, but we’re not going to create a state that will be committed to our destruction at our doorstep.”
The chancellor had voiced Germany’s commitment to a two-state solution on Saturday during a meeting with the King of Jordan on Saturday and in a phone call with Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas.
Also on Saturday, Merz met Israeli president Isaac Herzog, who said they discussed the “importance of implementing President Trump’s plan” and the necessity of removing Hamas from Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met Merz on Saturday and said relations between Berlin and Jerusalem were “on an upward trend”.
Sa’ar said: “This trend is reflected in the removal of the partial embargo, Germany’s clear opposition to all types of boycotts against Israel, and its abstention at the UN from supporting the extension of UNRWA’s mandate.”
Last week Israeli Defense Ministry officials deployed the first operational Arrow 3 missile defense system to the German Army in a ceremony at an air force base near Berlin. It is “the largest defense export deal in Israel’s history” according to the ministry.
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