German Chancellor Merz meets with PM Netanyahu in Jerusalem amid backdrop of Arrow 3 missile deal
The leaders are expected to hold a joint press conference after the meeting; Chancellor Merz arrived in Israel on Saturday and met with President Isaac Herzog
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Sunday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who arrived in Israel on Saturday on his first visit since taking office.
The meeting took place at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, where the two then held a follow-up joint press conference.
"Not only does Germany work in the defense of Israel, but Israel, the Jewish state 80 years after the Holocaust, works for the defense of Germany," said Netanyahu to the German Chancellor. "We spoke about continuing defense and technological cooperation, and we are ready to seize the future together," he added.
"We soon expect to enter phase two of the Gaza plan, which is more difficult," Netanyahu said on Gaza. "Israel will deradicalize Gaza after dismantling Hamas, as we did in Germany."
"They already had a state in Gaza, and it was used to try to destroy the one and only Jewish state," Netanyahu added. "We believe there is a path to advance a broader peace with the Arab states and a workable peace with our Palestinian neighbors, but we are not going to create a state that is going to be committed to destroying us at our doorstep. "
At the end of the presser, Netanyahu was asked if he would retire from politics in exchange for a pardon, and he said no.
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Upon his arrival on Saturday, the Chancellor of Germany met with the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, at the President’s Residence.
During their meeting, the two discussed the warm relations between the countries, despite Merz’s past statements condemning the actions of the IDF and the government in the Gaza Strip during the Iron Swords War and regarding the two-state solution.
The Chancellor also expressed a desire for his country to be more involved in the "day after" in the Gaza Strip once stage two of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas is completed, and with the return of the last kidnapped fallen soldier remaining in the Strip, the late Ran Gvili.
The meeting between Netanyahu and Merz was attended by, among others, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Deputy Head of the National Security Council, the Director General of the Ministry of Defense, the military secretaries of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, the Israeli Ambassador to Germany, and the German Ambassador to Israel.