Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, met with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. At the start of the meeting, the Prime Minister said: “It’s great to see you again in Jerusalem. Germany and Israel have very close ties. And I look forward to discussing a range of issues with you. I appreciate Chancellor Merkel’s commitment to Israel’s security. You come on a day when our security is again tested; when terrorists from Gaza are firing at Israel’s cities. I’m absolutely committed to making clear to these terrorists that they can’t do this with impunity. They have paid a price in the past for these crimes and they’ll pay a price again. So I look forward to our discussions on enhancing peace and security in a very troubled region.”

German Foreign Minister Westerwelle said, “I would like to underline how much we appreciate our close friendship and our excellent partnership, not only between our governments, between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor and the whole governments, but also between the people. Everyone can see that this is a very special friendship between the people and the countries and I would like to say a clear statement about this: We condemn every kind of terrorist attacks against Israel. We stand together with Israel, which means, of course, that we share also the concern about the Iranian nuclear program. For us any kind of nuclear option, weapons in the hands of the Iranian government is not acceptable for us, nuclear arms in the hands of the Iranian government is not an option and we will not accept this. Thank you so much.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)