BICOM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released details yesterday of his telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the German election.

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office said that he called on Merkel’s future government to “strengthen forces in Germany that accept historical responsibility” for the Nazi Holocaust.

Netanyahu also voiced confidence that the “special relationship between Germany and Israel would deepen and prosper under her leadership”.

The Prime Minister noted that “Israel is concerned over the rise in antisemitism in recent years among political elements on the right and the left and also among Islamic elements”.

Netanyahu refrained from specifically mentioning the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, whose unprecedented electoral gains have made it the third largest party in the Bundestag.

The Prime Minister also emphasised Israel’s policy regarding Iran’s attempts to build new military bases in Syria. Israel is concerned that de-escalation agreements in Syria will allow Iran to entrench and expand its position in the country. potentially encroaching on Israel’s border.

In related news, the AfD appeared to question whether Israel’s existence is in Germany’s national interest. At the party press conference on Monday, Alexander Gauland, one of the AfD’s leaders, questioned Merkel’s declared policy of a special bilateral relationship. Gauland said that “if Israel’s existence is part of the German national interest then we would have to be prepared to send German soldiers to defend the Jewish state”. He said that if that was indeed the case the relationship was “problematic” and “difficult” as far as he was concerned. He went on to say that “It’s clear that Israel’s existence is an important point for us. But to turn it into a national interest it sounds so simple but there is a continuous war in Israel. The implications of ‘national interest’ is that we would need to be really prepared to sacrifice our lives for the State of Israel”.

In response to the German election results, Israeli MK Nachman Shai of the Zionist Union and chairperson for the Israel-Germany Parliamentary Friendship Group said that the election of the AfD to parliament should send a “warning to Israel and the Jewish people” adding “xenophobia, racism and extremism have conquered a significant part of the German public”.