As of: February 12, 2024, 11:36 a.m
By: Stefan Krieger
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CDU leader Friedrich Merz travels to Israel.
In addition to discussions with leading politicians, a visit to a hospital is also on the agenda.
Tel Aviv/Jerusalem – Friedrich Merz is very familiar with traveling to crisis areas.
No, this time we are not talking about Berlin; this year the CDU leader is heading to the war zone in the Middle East.
In his role as opposition leader, Merz traveled to Ukraine by train at the beginning of May 2022 to demonstrate his support for the Ukrainian government.
So now Israel.
The Union parliamentary group leader is meeting, among others, President Izchak Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel this Monday (February 12).
On his first visit after the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the CDU chairman also wants to speak with Foreign Minister Israel Katz, opposition leader Jair Lapid and opposition politician Benny Gantz.
Gantz is a member of the Israeli war cabinet.
Merz would also like to visit a hospital.
Merz travels to Israel - talks against the background of the announced military offensive
Merz is accompanied by the deputy parliamentary group leaders Johann Wadephul and Jens Spahn as well as the deputy chairwoman of the German-Israeli parliamentary group, Gitta Connemann (all CDU).
Friedrich Merz, parliamentary group leader of the CDU/CSU and chairman of the CDU, is traveling to Israel.
© IMAGO / IPON
The talks also take place against the background of the military offensive announced by Netanyahu in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
An offensive in Rafah is considered highly problematic because the town, which had around 300,000 inhabitants before the war, is now said to be home to well over a million Palestinians.
Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, partly on orders from the Israeli military.
Before Merz's trip to Israel: CDU politician expresses understanding
Meanwhile, the foreign policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Jürgen Hardt, has expressed understanding for Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip.
“We understand that Israel says we cannot live alongside Hamas terrorists,” Hardt said on Monday in the
ARD morning magazine.
“We also believe that there are not only an incredible number of refugees or people living there as civilians in the south of the Gaza Strip, but that the Hamas terrorists have also withdrawn there,” Hardt continued.
Merz will therefore certainly not ask the Israelis to accept that there is “still a nest of terror” near Israel.
Hardt nevertheless emphasized that the humanitarian situation for Palestinian civilians in the Gaza war must be improved.
There also needs to be an answer to “how one actually imagines the future after this war.”
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“I fear that the people in Rafah will have no opportunity to escape – just as was initially possible from the north of Gaza,” said Hardt.
He also fears that they will not find refuge in the neighboring country of Egypt.
“There, too, there is a fear that with refugees, terrorists will also be brought into the country.”
On Monday night, the Israeli military rescued two hostages in the city of Rafah in the south of the coastal strip.
According to Palestinian reports, dozens of people were killed in the rescue operation.
The information could not be independently verified.
(skr/dpa)