Yahoo News Netanyahu snubs German foreign minister over meetings with Left-wing Israeli groups
Benjamin Netanyahu risked a diplomatic row with Germany on Tuesday by abruptly canceling a meeting with the German foreign minister over the minister’s plans to meet with Left-wing Israeli groups.
The Israeli leader called off the meeting with Sigmar Gabriel because the German ignored demands that he cancel meetings with two NGOs that are critical of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Mr Gabriel brushed off the ultimatum and said he planned to go ahead with meeting Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers, and B’Tselem, a human rights group that works with Palestinians.
Mr Netanyahu’s Right-wing government has accused both groups of unfairly tarnishing the Israeli military. Both organisations receive substantial funding from the EU.
Mr Gabriel said earlier in the day that it would be “regrettable” if Mr Netanyahu called off the meeting but “it wouldn’t be a catastrophe”.
He added that Germany would have no issue if the situation were reversed and Mr Netanyahu met with groups critical of the German government. "You never get the full picture of any state in the world if you just meet with figures in government ministries," Mr Gabriel told Germany’s ZDF television network.
While Germany is critical of Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank, it is generally considered an ally of Israel. Germany has provided Israel with heavily-subsidised naval submarines as part of an agreement to pay reparations for the Holocaust.
Mr Gabriel carried on with other meetings in Jerusalem, including meeting Israeli president Reuben Rivlin. He also met with the Palestinian prime minister in Ramallah, the Palestinian administrative capital in the West Bank.
