[Aypee] JERUSALEM — Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that she is visiting Israel with most of her new cabinet in order to show Germany's friendship with the Jewish state and that her country is working to secure the future of Israel.
Merkel was speaking at an evening press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Germany is Israel's closest European ally and holds an annual joint Cabinet session with its Israeli counterparts. Of late however, tensions with Europe, and also Germany, have risen over West Bank settlement policies.
Settlement tensions or not, something tells me the Germans are sympathetic to border challenges. |