Germany’s Merkel tours Holocaust museum on Israel visit

Merkel visits the Hall of Names in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem yesterday

German Chancellor Angela Merkel kicked off the second day of her two-day visit to Israel yesterday with an emotional tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum.

Israel was established three years after the end of World War II, and the German government has paid billions in reparations to Holocaust survivors and positioned itself as a leader in combatting anti-Semitism. Under Merkel, it has been perhaps Israel’s strongest European ally.

Accompanied by Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev, Merkel took special notice of an exhibited letter that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler sent deployed German soldiers in which he tried to boost their morale by saying they were fighting “a war of existence, a war against communism and its perpetrators, the Jews.”

She then participated in a memorial ceremony for the 6 million victims of the Nazi-led Holocaust.

“The Jews in Germany suffered from hatred and violence that the world did not know was possible,” she wrote in the memorial’s guest book. “What came later is a crime that has no equal — the teardown of civilization — the Holocaust.”

From there, she went to a different ceremony in Jerusalem where she was granted an honorary doctorate from Haifa University and answered questions from local students. She also met Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and toured an innovation exhibit of Israeli and German companies with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Today’s market is global and the ability to innovate is what gives us a global competitive edge,” Netanyahu said alongside Merkel. “Each of us does this quite well on our own, but we can succeed much more together.”

Merkel is in Israel for the latest in a series of joint government consultations. She is accompanied by much of her Cabinet, a large business delegation and a new official in charge of combatting anti-Semitism. The visit is expected to focus on economic issues, with an emphasis on innovation, technology and development projects.

It’s the seventh such joint government meeting since Israel and Germany established the tradition a decade ago.

Merkel met Netanyahu for dinner Wednesday night and their ministers are set to sign a series of new agreements, including scientific exchanges and joint projects in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.

Germany is Israel’s largest trading partner in Europe and for the past few decades has been perhaps its staunchest supporter. But differences have been exacerbated following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, particularly regarding Israel’s policies toward Iran and the Palestinians.

Netanyahu has been one of Trump’s biggest international backers, lauding him for pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal that Merkel and other world leaders helped negotiate in 2015. Netanyahu says the deal, which curbed Iran’s nuclear program, does not include enough safeguards to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapons capability.

Trump also has largely refrained from criticizing Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank — a frequent European complaint — recognized Jerusalem as its capital and moved the U.S. Embassy there. He also has cut funding to the Palestinians and fully pinned the blame for stalled Mideast peace talks on them.

In contrast, Merkel has continued to champion the traditional approach to Middle East peacemaking, calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state and for Israel to refrain from unilateral steps to undermine its prospect.

Germany has also been among the European countries calling on Israel to refrain from carrying out its plans to demolish a West Bank hamlet that Israel says was illegally built. Aron Heller, Jerusalem, AP