Latest news with #Frank-WalterSteinmeier
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Germany would be a 'poorer country' without migration, president says
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for debates on migration to be held with "reason," amid increased border controls under the country's new government. "Immigration was never easy," Steinmeier said in Berlin at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Intercultural Week, a nationwide initiative against racism. "It is also not just a problem story. It is also always an important part of our country's success story." Steinmeier said discussions on migration policy should include both an "honest position that says what we want and can do," as well as a "consensus that we are and will remain a country with many backgrounds, religions and cultures." "Being German today also means equal rights for those with immigrant biographies," the president added. Some 21 million people in Germany - around a quarter of the population - either migrated to the country, or are the children of migrants, Steinmeier said. "We are more than a country with people with an immigrant background," the president said. Germany is a "country with an immigrant background." He added: "Without immigration, Germany would undoubtedly be a poorer country."
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel's military says missile fired from Yemen intercepted
The Israeli military has announced that it has once again intercepted a missile fired from Yemen. Prior to this, rocket alarms were sounded in various regions of Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Initially, there were no reports of injuries or damage. The attack occurred during the visit to Israel by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Recently, after a missile from the Yemen-based Houthi militia struck near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, Israel attacked the international airport of Yemen's capital Sana'a. Since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Houthis have been regularly attacking Israel with missiles and drones as an expression of their solidarity with the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement. The Israeli Air Force has frequently responded with airstrikes on militia targets in Yemen. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump recently announced unexpectedly that attacks on Houthi targets would be halted. Oman has claimed to have mediated a ceasefire. The Houthis also expressed their general willingness for a ceasefire with the US. However, the Houthis' stance towards Israel remains unchanged and hostile.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German president visits Israel to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany, forged in the grim shadow of the Holocaust. Steinmeier was welcomed at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport with military honours by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who visited Germany on Monday to mark the diplomatic milestone. Diplomatic ties were formally established on May 12, 1965, following an agreement between Germany's then-chancellor Ludwig Erhard and Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol. The move came after a gradual rapprochement between two nations whose relationship had been deeply scarred by the atrocities carried out during the Holocaust, during which Nazi Germany murdered some 6 million Jews. In the following decades, Germany and Israel have built a close network of political, economic, military, scientific and cultural cooperation. But the anniversary was overshadowed by the ongoing Gaza war, with Steinmeier appealing to Herzog in Berlin to lift the blockade preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the civilian population in the coastal area and adhere to international law. "Israel's enemies do not abide by the rules, but we must," said Steinmeier in his speech at a state banquet in the German capital on Monday evening. At the same time, he noted Israel's right to self-defence. In Jerusalem, the two heads of states visited the National Library of Israel, with Steinmeier set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later in the afternoon. Human rights group Amnesty International had previously called on the German president to refrain from meeting Netanyahu, who is being sought under an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel's Herzog arrives in Berlin to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties
Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Berlin for a one-day visit on Monday to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries that share a deeply disturbing history. He was received with military honours by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace, the official presidential residence in central Berlin. To honour the milestone, Steinmeier is set to accompany Herzog back to Israel on Tuesday for a two-day visit. Diplomatic ties were formally established on May 12, 1965, following an agreement between Germany's then-chancellor Ludwig Erhard and Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol. The move came after a gradual rapprochement between two nations whose relationship had been deeply scarred by the atrocities carried out during the Holocaust, during which Nazi Germany murdered some 6 million Jews. In the following decades, Germany and Israel have built a close network of political, economic, military, scientific and cultural cooperation. Following the official welcome ceremony, the two heads of state convened to hold their first talks. A press conference is scheduled for afterwards.
Local Germany
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
Germany and Israel mark 60 years of ties as Gaza war casts shadow
His German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier will then visit Israel with Herzog, to emphasise Germany's historic responsibility as one of its staunchest supporters. Together with their wives, they will tour Israel for two days to highlight a friendship that a grateful Berlin often labels "a miracle" and meet young people, politicians and kibbutz residents. But while Berlin, now led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, says support for Israel remains a core principle, relations have come under strain in recent years. Israel's devastating war in Gaza prompted by the October 7th, 2023 attack by Hamas has sparked charges from many countries and rights groups that its response has been disproportionate. The International Criminal Court last year issued a warrant for alleged war crimes for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu's policy of blocking vital humanitarian aid into Gaza has been viewed as collective punishment and using starvation as a weapon of war. Herzog has also come under criticism from the ICC for remarks suggesting that the entire population of Gaza was responsible for the October 7th attacks. Germany meanwhile has seen the surge of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, whose leading figures have questioned the country's "remembrance culture" to atone for Nazi crimes. READ ALSO: "The truth is out about Germany's far-right AfD - now ban the party" Bjoern Höcke, a key figure of the party that won a record 20 percent in February elections, has labelled Berlin's Holocaust remembrance site for six million murdered Jews a "memorial of shame". In this broad context, "the usual platitudes... no longer convince", former Israeli ambassador Shimon Stein argued in an article for German news weekly Die Zeit co-written with Hebrew University professor Moshe Zimmermann. Advertisement "Sixty years of German-Israeli relations –- we are entering a completely new chapter." Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor, speaking to AFP, said that Germany remained "Israel's most important ally in Europe" and that the two countries are now bound by "a true friendship". "Even if things sometimes get tough, it always remains a fair and friendly relationship." Israel's brutal war As Israel's siege in Gaza draws international condemnation, Germany has been at pains to carefully calibrate its response. Last Tuesday, the day he took power, Merz said "Israel has the right to defend itself against the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7th and everything that followed". "But Israel must also remain a country that lives up to its humanitarian obligations, especially as this terrible war is raging in the Gaza Strip, where this confrontation with Hamas terrorists is necessarily taking place," he said. Germany's new top diplomat Johann Wadephul, who visited Israel on Sunday, called for "serious discussions for a ceasefire" in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation "is now unbearable". Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (r) receives Israeli President Izchak Herzog for talks at Bellevue Palace in 2024. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Fabian Sommer The 60th anniversary falls at a time "in which a mood of joy and celebration isn't exactly apparent," one of Steinmeier's advisors told AFP. "How could it be?... We view the suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip with the greatest concern." Since World War II, Germany has paid reparations to Israel and the two countries have built close defence ties, with Israel buying German submarines and Berlin purchasing Israeli air defence systems. But Stein and Zimmermann argued that nurturing close ties had increasingly become an "elite project" in Germany. READ ALSO: What is Germany's 'Staatsräson' and why is it being talked about so much right now? News weekly Der Spiegel said a Bertelsmann Foundation survey found that only 36 percent of Germans surveyed said they had a "very or fairly good opinion" of Israel, a slide of 10 points from 2021. During his Israel visit, Steinmeier is also expected to meet with Netanyahu. Merz, before his inauguration, suggested he was open to a Netanyahu visit to Germany, despite the ICC arrest warrant. This would present Germany with a dilemma, a former president of Germany's Constitutional Court, Andreas Vosskuhle, told the Handelsblatt daily. Advertisement "Normally, he would have to be arrested," Vosskuhle said, adding that "it should be obvious that the Germans, given their own history, are reluctant to arrest the Israeli prime minister". "I therefore hope that Netanyahu will be wise enough not to come here and spare himself and us this situation."
