state visit
SPD politician Mast: address criticism during Israel visit
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit will be accompanied by a large-scale police operation. photo
© picture alliance / dpa
Protests flank the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to Berlin, which was cut short at short notice for reasons that are still unknown. Will highly controversial projects in Israel also be an issue?
Before the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, called for critical points to be addressed.
Germany has a deep friendship with the State of Israel. “Nevertheless, in this friendship we must be able to address things critically as the Federal Republic of Germany,” said Mast on Wednesday in Berlin. As examples, she cited the controversial judicial reform and “settlement construction, which violates international law.”
“I am quite sure that the Chancellor will find his words to address things and still speak in friendship with the State of Israel,” said Mast.
Netanyahu will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Thursday. The visit is overshadowed by a bitter dispute in Israel over judicial reform that Netanyahu’s right-wing religious government is pushing ahead with. Opponents of the reform want to try to prevent Netanyahu from leaving Israel with road blockades. Protests are also expected in Berlin.
Departure earlier than planned
Instead of Friday morning as originally planned, Netanyahu will leave on Thursday evening, as the Israeli embassy in Berlin explained at the request of the German Press Agency. A reason was not given. According to Israeli media reports, a security incident on Monday in northern Israel is said to be the background. A blackout had been imposed on the details of a bomb blast near Megiddo.
What is known: A young man from the Arab village of Salem was seriously injured in the explosion on Monday. Authorities assumed a possible terrorist attack. According to media reports, he suffered injuries all over his body from bomb splinters. The bomb was hidden on the side of a traffic road and detonated there, it was said. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that it may be a type of explosive device used against Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon in the past. The Israeli army withdrew from the so-called security zone in 2000.