There is no doubt: in Germany there was still no Chancellor, who contributed so significantly to the upgrading of relations between his country and Israel as England Merkel;
Neither Conrad Adenauer nor Helmut Kohl, the Conservatives, and certainly not the Social Democrats' chancellors Brandt, Schmidt and Schroeder.
This is also evidenced by the number of times Merkel visited Israel (this is her eighth visit to Israel. There was no other German leader who visited Israel so often during his tenure), and the decorations and honors that Merkel received over the years from countless Israeli and Jewish bodies.
Merkel, who stated on the podium of the UN General Assembly and the Knesset that Israel's existence and security are part of Germany's supreme national interest and introduced Israel's commitment as a Jewish state to the government platforms it headed, succeeded in convincing many Israelis of the existence of "another Germany." In internal Israeli struggles (the "Milky Way Protest"), Merkel allowed herself to confront the Israeli prime minister in a public and precedent-setting manner, as if the terrible past no longer played a role in the relationship between the two peoples, while fully committed to the memory of the Holocaust.
And yet, despite Merkel's great contribution to relations, she leaves to her successor many matters that obscure relations between the two countries and perpetuate the troublesome problems that plague them.
First and foremost, the issue of the "missing third" in Israeli compensation payments for the Holocaust.
In the 1950s, Israel demanded $ 1.5 billion from West and East Germany to help absorb Holocaust survivors in its territory.
West Germany was to pay two-thirds of that amount according to its size, and East Germany the remaining third. Communist East Germany, where Merkel grew up, never paid its share to Israel, even though it transferred very generous amounts of aid to Israel's Arab enemies. The "missing third" is currently valued at $ 17 billion. Foreign Minister Lapid will stop his obsessive preoccupation with Poland, and will demand that the Germans repay their old debt. Just as East Germany transferred funds to Israel's enemies, including the PLO, so too did Merkel's governments transfer very generous aid to the UNRWA agency, the very existence of which constitutes a call for the elimination of the Jewish state. During Merkel's tenure, this annual support grew from about 3 million euros to more than 170 million.
There is also the problem of Germany's support for anti - Israel votes in international institutions, which is also in conflict with Germany's commitment to Israel, and the German hiding behind EU decisions as an excuse for adopting anti - Israel positions.
Germany is one of the European countries preventing the dismantling of the illegal settlement in Khan al-Ahmar, in a way that completely contradicts international agreements.
Merkel's Germany encouraged Israelis to settle in Berlin, but insisted that the homelands be "Judenrein" (free of Jews).
And there is, of course, the issue of the intervention of the German political and private foundations in Israel's internal affairs.
Merkel should have instructed her government ministries to change the rules of activity of the political foundations in Israel, which are supported by public funds, in a way that deals only with promoting ties between the two countries, and not with "educating for democracy" of Israelis or achieving peace and brotherhood among other peoples.
All of these problems are a legacy that Merkel leaves behind.
She can take advantage of her last days as Chancellor to change anything.
Israel, for its part, must also insist on this, instead of flattering and bowing.