Status: 06.09.2022 10:33 a.m
Israeli President Herzog gave a speech in the Bundestag as part of his trip to Germany. There he thanked for the support of his country and recalled the Holocaust.
In a speech in the Bundestag, Israel’s President Izchak Herzog expressed his gratitude and respect for Germany’s support for his country. “The State of Israel is proud of its partnership with Germany,” said Herzog in the plenary session of the Bundestag in Berlin. “We really appreciate Germany’s contribution to Israel’s security and success.” On the basis of joint commemoration of the Holocaust, the two countries could shape a common future.
“The future belongs to us, it must belong to both of us,” said Herzog in front of the MPs and the heads of the German constitutional bodies. “Only together can we give meaning to the commemoration.” For Israel, this also includes the “oath of allegiance to the freedom and security of the State of Israel and the well-being of the Jewish people”.
“The Jewish people do not forget”
Herzog emphasized that the Holocaust will always play a central role in German-Israeli relations – “the Jewish people do not forget,” he said. At the same time, he had great respect for the development of Germany after the Second World War. Germany has become “one of the most important leaders of the free world” and is again a “motor of spirit and culture”.
Herzog expressly thanked him for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Olympic assassination the day before. “Thank you for the moving ceremony yesterday,” he said. By “taking responsibility”, Germany is making a contribution to “a certain relief of the pain of the relatives”.
In January 2020, Herzog’s predecessor Reuven Rivlin was the last Israeli President to speak before the Bundestag.
Visit as part of the commemoration of the Olympic attack
The focus of the Israeli President’s visit so far has been the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Munich Olympics attack. Eleven Israeli athletes were killed in 1972. At the central commemoration of the 50th anniversary at the Fürstenfeldbruck air base, Federal President Steinmeier had asked for forgiveness for the lack of protection for the Israeli athletes and the insufficient education after the attack.
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) also asked for forgiveness in her opening speech at the plenary session today. “I am glad that the federal government and the families of the victims have come to an agreement,” said Bas. “No amount of compensation can undo these murders or heal the deep wounds of the loved ones.” However, the agreement on the compensation means “an acknowledgment of your suffering,” she said to the bereaved. “50 years after the horrific attack, this is a late but important sign of responsibility.”
Bas also lamented the ongoing anti-Semitism in Germany. “Even today there is hatred directed against Jews and against Israel,” she said. “It is a disgrace that Jewish or Israeli institutions are only safe with police protection, that anti-Israel demonstrations are incited, that Israel is wished for death on social networks.” She added: “We all have to take decisive action against this hate and hate speech. With all the means at our disposal.”
Visit with Steinmeier in Bergen-Belsen
After his speech in the Bundestag, Herzog attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The two presidents then visit the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Herzog’s father, former Israeli President Chaim Herzog, was one of the camp’s liberators in April 1945, while he was an officer in the ranks of the British forces.
More than 52,000 concentration camp prisoners and around 20,000 prisoners of war died there under the Nazi regime, including the Jewish girl Anne Frank, whose diary became world famous.