\n<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s envoy to Germany has criticised a far-right Israeli cabinet member who made historically charged accusations against the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz<\/a>, saying the attack \u201c[eroded] the memory of the Holocaust\u201d.<\/p>\n In a rare rebuke of a top Israeli official by an active ambassador, Ron Prosor said he wished to \u201cunequivocally condemn\u201d Bezalel Smotrich<\/a>\u2019s tirade against Merz, in which he made reference to the Nazi regime and said: \u201cYou will not force us into ghettos again.\u201d<\/p>\n The row, which erupted after the chancellor raised objections to settlements in the occupied West Bank<\/a>, marks the latest clash between Berlin, seen as Israel\u2019s closest ally in Europe, and Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government over its actions toward Palestinians.<\/p>\n Merz\u2019s office released a statement late on Monday after telephone talks with Netanyahu, saying he had urged Israel<\/a> to stop military attacks on southern Lebanon and expressed \u201cdeep concern about developments in the Palestinian territories\u201d. A \u201cde facto annexation\u201d of the West Bank must not be allowed, he added.<\/p>\n In response, Smotrich<\/a>, the Israeli finance minister, <\/strong>invoked the Nazis\u2019 murder of 6 million Jews during the second world war.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day [on Tuesday], 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,\u201d he said on X, apparently equating the Hamas-led attackers of 7 October 2023 <\/a>with all Palestinians.<\/p>\n Smotrich, a self-declared<\/a> \u201cfascist homophobe\u201d who has called for government reprisal attacks<\/a> on Palestinians, slammed \u201chypocritical leaders in Europe\u201d and warned Merz: \u201c\u200bMr Chancellor, \u200bthe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Prosor said Smotrich\u2019s attack \u201cerodes the memory of the Holocaust and presents it in a completely distorted way\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is possible and completely legitimate to argue with the Germans, especially on this day, which is very emotional,\u201d Prosor told Kan public radio<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a political debate all the time, but Merz is a great friend of Israel,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cMany things that Germany<\/a> does are unacceptable to us, and things that we do are unacceptable to them. But Germany has proven, especially with all the criticism against Israel in Europe, that it is our number one friend.\u201d<\/p>\n Germany views Israel\u2019s security as integral to its own Staatsr\u00e4son<\/a><\/em> or bedrock policy based on a solemn bond between the nations after the Holocaust.<\/p>\n However, Israeli officials in recent months have bridled at even cautious criticism from Berlin, while Germany has also distanced itself from the US-Israeli military action<\/a> against Iran.<\/p>\n Merz drew fire last August from Netanyahu\u2019s government and members of his own conservative CDU party when he announced Germany would stop exporting military equipment that could be used in Gaza<\/a> due to the unfolding humanitarian disaster there.<\/p>\n Germany has long condemned Israel\u2019s expanding settlement activity in the West Bank, and recently urged Israel to halt a sprawling construction project<\/a> Smotrich has championed, which he said would help prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n Last month, the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Saar, berated Germany\u2019s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, over his opposition to deepening Israeli control in the West Bank, accusing the envoy of an \u201cobsession\u201d with Jewish settlers.<\/p>\n At the same time, he asserted, Seibert found it \u201cvery difficult to condemn attacks against Israelis without bringing up the Palestinians\u201d.<\/p>\n Seibert had previously spoken of a \u201cday of outrage and sadness\u201d after <\/strong>the death of an Israeli by Hezbollah fire and hundreds injured by Iranian missiles. \u201cAnd in a parallel reality: the violent settler rampage in Palestinian villages following the tragic and to be investigated death of one of their own,\u201d he posted on X, referring to reprisal attacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst on Israel at the International Crisis Group, said on Tuesday that the Israeli government had repeatedly targeted Germany \u201cfor invoking the basic human rights of Palestinians\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThey do so even at the expense of alienating their strongest European ally,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n Zonszein called on Berlin to recalibrate its approach to the Netanyahu administration in light of the open conflict.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time for Germany to reassess its support for Israeli actions that not only contradict its policies but are now the basis for vitriol against state leaders,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n