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German President Seeks to Move Past Rift with Israel
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. "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 residence of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. Netanyahu had canceled an April 25 meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel after the visiting diplomat declined to call off 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. "We should not impose any restrictions," he said. Gabriel had met members of Breaking the Silence, which seeks to document alleged Israeli military abuses in the occupied Paleostinian territories, and B'Tselem, which works on a number of human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... issues and strongly opposes Israeli settlement building. Netanyahu's rightwing government says the groups unfairly tarnish Israel and strengthen the arguments of its enemies. Posted by: Fred 2017-05-08 |
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