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The two countries\u2019 traditionally strong ties have been tested amid Israel\u2019s genocidal war on the people of Gaza.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has arrived in Israel for his first visit since taking office in May, aiming to reaffirm the traditionally strong ties between the two countries, which have been shaken over the course of Israel\u2019s more than two-year genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n After a brief stop in Jordan, Merz landed just before 8pm local time (18:00 GMT) on Saturday at Tel Aviv\u2019s Ben Gurion airport, where he was met by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who called him \u201ca friend of Israel\u201d and said Germany was \u201can important partner\u201d.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Merz also met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem later on Saturday.<\/p>\n The German chancellor earlier held talks with Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah II and told reporters they had mostly discussed Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n Merz urged more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza and for Hamas fighters to lay down their weapons. He said Jordan and Germany both remain committed to a negotiated two-state solution.<\/p>\n In Jerusalem on Sunday, Merz is scheduled to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial before meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n Given the dark legacy of Nazi Germany\u2019s industrial-scale murder of Jews, German leaders have long seen unflinching support for Israel as a bedrock of the country\u2019s foreign policy.<\/p>\n But Israeli-German ties have become increasingly shaky since October 2023.<\/p>\n Merz has repeatedly criticised Israel\u2019s relentless military campaign, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\n In August, he also moved to restrict sales of weapons for use in Gaza.<\/p>\n Since the United States-backed ceasefire came into effect in October \u2013 which Israel has violated on a near-daily basis \u2013 Germany has lifted those export restrictions.<\/p>\n Despite the ceasefire, more than 350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities, as well as three Israeli soldiers.<\/p>\n The United Nations also warns that Israel is still not allowing enough aid into Gaza.<\/p>\n Before leaving Berlin on Saturday, Merz spoke with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.<\/p>\n A spokesperson said Merz underscored German support for a two-state solution, but urged Abbas to push through \u201curgently necessary reforms\u201d of the PA in order to play a \u201cconstructive role\u201d in the post-war order.<\/p>\n Gil Shohat, head of the Tel Aviv office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which is affiliated with Germany\u2019s far-left Die Linke party, sharply criticised Merz for the trip.<\/p>\n \u201cNetanyahu is a wanted war criminal and is under suspicion of corruption,\u201d Shohat was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. \u201cGoing there now and legitimising him is a fatal sign of normalisation in a situation that must not be normalised.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the close ties between the countries, German officials have said there are currently no plans to invite Netanyahu, who faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes in Gaza from the International Criminal Court (ICC), to Berlin.<\/p>\n Merz this year pledged to invite the Israeli leader and told him he would not be arrested.<\/p>\n Any tensions have also not disrupted key military ties. Germany last week put into operation the first phase of the Israeli-made Arrow missile defence shield.<\/p>\n The $4.5bn deal was reportedly the largest arms export agreement in Israeli history, and Berlin has also turned to Israeli firms for help in drone defence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The two countries\u2019 traditionally strong ties have been tested amid Israel\u2019s genocidal war on the people of Gaza. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has arrived in Israel for his first visit since taking office in May, aiming to reaffirm the traditionally strong ties between the two countries, which have been shaken over the course of Israel\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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