The German ambassador to Israel, Susanne Vassum-Rainer, tweeted that the visit aims to “strengthen our distinguished relationship.”
Merkel strengthened cooperation with Israel to make Germany Israel’s largest trading partner in Europe. On a visit in 2008 on the 60th anniversary of the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel, Merkel delivered a speech in the Knesset in which she expressed her shame over the Holocaust. Merkel’s twenty-minute speech was received with a standing ovation.
Merkel will meet new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and they are expected to discuss Iran. She also visits Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. Also on the agenda of the visit is a meeting with the Israeli president and talks with businessmen and representatives of high technology.
The two-day visit was scheduled for August, but was postponed after developments in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s assumption of power there.
Merkel’s last visit to Israel was in 2018.
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