Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Merkel cancels visit to Israel due to Afghanistan situation

Germany is seeking to get its own nationals, in addition to Afghani citizens that helped its military forces while stationed there in the past two decades, out of the country before the end of the month.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on Oct. 4, 2018. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on Oct. 4, 2018. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has canceled a planned visit to Israel on Saturday due to the situation in Afghanistan, the German government announced on Thursday.

It was called off “because of current developments in Afghanistan,” the AP reported.

Merkel’s office said that it would reschedule the trip.

Germany is seeking to get its own nationals, in addition to Afghani citizens that helped its military forces while stationed there in the past two decades, out of the country before the end of the month.

The visit would have been her first since Naftali Bennett became prime minister, as well as most likely her last one as chancellor since she has decided not to run again.

German federal elections are scheduled to be held on Sept. 26.

The IDF will not withdraw from the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and Samaria, Israel’s defense minister pledged.
Twenty-three Glock pistols, three Kalashnikov rifles, one M16 rifle and additional weapons were seized.
Two of the operatives were platoon commanders in the PIJ terror group and the other was a deputy company commander in Hamas.
The two nations agreed to hold “a bilateral political dialogue,” Israel’s FM said.
All aerial threats were downed as the waterway remains open for transit, the U.S. Central Command says.
The Mossad reportedly funneled captured terrorist arsenals to Kurdish opposition groups as part of an initiative to destabilize the central government.