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Israeli President Issac Herzog at the lectern of the Bundestag
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
In his speech in the Bundestag 50 years after the Munich Olympic attack, Israel's President Isaac Herzog recalled the deep friendship between Germany and Israel.
"Germany has proven and continues to prove that it devotes considerable effort to the culture of remembrance and commemoration," said Herzog.
»The State of Israel is proud of its partnership with Germany.«
Herzog called for the partnership between the two countries to be further deepened.
At the same time, the memory of the German crimes under Nazi rule must be preserved, he stressed.
"The Jewish nation is a nation of remembrance," said the President.
This is part of their identity.
»Together we can give meaning to commemoration«
"The future belongs to us, it must belong to both of us," said Herzog in front of the MPs and the heads of the German constitutional bodies.
»Only together can we give meaning to the commemoration.«
"We must continue to teach the Shoah," said Herzog, and demanded that "we must fight with all our might against Holocaust denial."
Anti-Semitism must be fought.
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Herzog also warned of Iranian nuclear weapons.
"Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a UN member state that calls for the destruction of another UN member state on a daily basis - that is unacceptable!" said Herzog.
He calls on the whole world not to stand idly by.
Bas asks for forgiveness
In a speech beforehand, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) asked for forgiveness for mistakes and omissions by the German authorities in connection with the assassination of the Israeli team at the 1972 Summer Games. »I am glad that the Federal Government and the families of the victims have come to an agreement have,” said Bas.
"No amount of compensation can undo these murders or heal the deep wounds of the loved ones."
Bas lamented the continuing anti-Semitism in Germany.
"Even today there is hatred directed against Jews and against Israel," she said.
“It is a disgrace that Jewish or Israeli institutions are only safe with police protection, that anti-Israel demonstrations are incited, that Israel is wished dead on social networks.”
Herzog thanked for the words and the ceremony to commemorate the assassination last day in Munich.
The President arrived in Germany on Sunday.
The focus of the visit so far has been the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Munich Olympics attack.
Eleven Israeli athletes were killed in 1972.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked for forgiveness on Monday for the lack of protection for the Israeli athletes and the insufficient education after the attack.
mfh/AFP