Israel Minister Tells German Chancellor: ‘You Will Not Force Us Into Ghettos Again’

Israel’s Finance Minister told Germany’s Chancellor that he will not force Jews into “ghettos again,” sparking condemnation from Israel’s ambassador to Berlin. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lashed out at Chancellor Friedrich Merz who said he was “deeply concerned about developments in the Palestinian territories. In my phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I made it clear: There must be no de facto annexation of the West Bank.”Mr. Merz’s comment came as Israel honored the victims of the Holocaust, causing Mr. Smotrich issued a strongly worded rebuke. “On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the German Chancellor should bow his head and apologize a thousand times on behalf of Germany, rather than daring to preach morality to us on how to conduct ourselves against the Nazis of our generation — who murdered, raped, slaughtered, and burned women, the elderly, and children in the most horrific massacre perpetrated against the Jewish people since the terrible Holocaust,” the Mr. Smotrich said. “Mr. Chancellor, The days when Germans dictated to Jews where they were permitted or forbidden to live are over and shall not return. You will not force us into ghettos again, certainly not in our own land,” he added. The finance minister said that Jews’ return to the Land of Israel which is ”our biblical and historical homeland — is the answer to anyone who tried or tries to destroy us, and we do not apologize for it for a single moment.”Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor told Israel’s Kan Public Broadcaster that he “unequivocally condemns” his remarks against the Germany Chancellor. “It is entirely possible and legitimate to argue with Germany,” he said, adding that “political disagreement exists all the time, but Germany is a great friend of Israel.” While “many things Germany does are not acceptable to us, and things we do are not acceptable to them, Germany has proven, especially amid all the criticism of Israel in Europe, that it is our number one friend,” Ambassador Prosor stressed. Israel has come under fire for continuing to expand Jewish settlements and legalise new settler outposts in the West Bank, some of which are deep in what is considered Palestinian territory.The Israeli government’s policy of establishing new settlements has been widely condemned by the country’s allies and enemies alike. President Trump also poured cold water on the prospects of a recognised Israeli annexation of the West Bank. “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Nope, I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen. It’s been enough. It’s time to stop now,” Mr. Trump said in September last year. The Israeli government, meanwhile, is insisting that the West Bank is part of the biblical Jewish homeland, in which more than 500.000 Israelis currently live. Israel took control with the West Bank in 1967 where it had been occupied by Jordan since 1948.

Israel Minister Tells German Chancellor: ‘You Will Not Force Us Into Ghettos Again’

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