TEL AVIV — Invoking their tragically unique history as a springboard for ever-strengthening strategic ties, leaders from Germany and Israel, in parallel meetings in Tel Aviv and Berlin on Tuesday, marked 50 years since the establishment of formal relations on May 12, 1965.
From the ashes of the Holocaust, Germany has evolved into Israel's largest European trade partner and strategic benefactor, second only to the United States.
"In the 50 years since formalization of our diplomatic relations, Germany has proven in word and in deed its commitment to Israel's security," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
Speaking with Netanyahu after a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial museum, von der Leyen praised Israeli willingness to forge relations, despite the "horrors" of the past.
"After my visit to Yad Vashem it's even clearer to us that it is not to be taken for granted that 50 years ago, when we outstretched our hand to Israel, that Israel didn't turn her back on us and we appreciate that."
Von der Leyen met Netanyahu in Jerusalem a day after Israel and Germany concluded a €430 million (US $480 million) corvette package — nearly a third of which will be subsidized by Berlin. She said the four-ship deal was the latest in a growing list of some 70 projects solidifying bilateral security ties.
The corvette package and previous projects involving German Patriot missile batteries and Dolphin-class submarines are all forms of German cooperation aimed at bolstering Israeli security, von der Leyen said.
"The ties between us in the field of security and in other fields is manifest over some 70 joint projects between our two countries, among them joint exercises," she said.
Meanwhile in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told visiting Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday, "After the Holocaust, it is a miracle that we are here together. And indeed the relationship between Germany and Israel is itself a miracle."
According to a transcript of the meeting prepared by Israel's Government Press Office, Merkel said she was "amazed by the courage of Israel's politicians who continue to look straight into the future without forgetting the past."
Back in Jerusalem, von der Leyen said that along withever-tightening closer ties comes candor.
"From these very close ties that I've described, from deep and abiding friendship, we occasionally can allow ourselves to criticize one another, but always out of friendship," she added.
On the issue of ongoing nuclear talks with Iran toward a prospective agreement — that Netanyahu again describedonce again Tuesday as a "bad deal" — von der Leyen said Germany was committed to a fully transparent agreement that ultimately enhances Israeli security.
"Right now we only have a framework agreement," she said. "We want to listen to all your hesitations and concerns in order that fine details in the agreement that is being advanced will also be to the benefit of Israeli security."
Email: bopallrome@defensenews.com
Twitter: @OpallRome
Opall-Rome is Israel bureau chief for Defense News. She has been covering U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation, Mideast security and missile defense since May 1988. She lives north of Tel Aviv. Visit her website at www.opall-rome.com.
