Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar was set to kick off a diplomatic visit to Germany on Tuesday, his office said.
During the visit, Sa’ar is scheduled to meet German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
Sa’ar’s meeting with his German counterpart will mark the eighth between the two over the past year, Jerusalem noted.
Following their talks, Sa’ar and Wadephul are expected to hold a joint press conference.
Sa’ar will also meet with several other senior German officials, including Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt and Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space Dorothee Bär. Additional meetings are planned with Felix Klein, who serves as Berlin’s federal antisemitism commissioner, and lawmaker Armin Laschet, chair of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee.
During the trip, Sa’ar is to attend a ceremony at the Platform 17 Memorial at the Berlin-Grunewald station, a site used by the Nazi regime to deport Jews to extermination camps during the Holocaust. He is also expected to meet leaders of the local Jewish community.
“Strengthening ties with Germany and the ongoing dialogue with it are central to our foreign policy,” Sa’ar said in a statement. “This is particularly important during this challenging period. Our goal is to deepen our ties with Germany, including our security and economic ties.”
U.S. President Donald Trump last month criticized Merz, accusing him of suggesting that Iran could be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, one day after the chancellor stated that the United States was being “humiliated” by Tehran.
“The chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump wrote. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. If Iran had a nuclear weapon, the whole world would be held hostage.”
Merz had said in German that “at the moment, I cannot see what strategic exit the Americans are now opting for, especially as the Iranians are obviously negotiating very skillfully, or rather, very skillfully not negotiating, and letting the Americans travel to Islamabad only to leave again without any results.”
“An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards,” Merz said, adding that the conflict was negatively affecting Berlin’s economy.
