German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to visit Israel at the end of August, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett invited Merkel to Israel in their phone call last month, and she agreed to visit. The chancellor also plans to meet with President Isaac Herzog.
Merkel has not visited Israel since 2018. She is leaving office the following month, after announcing she will not seek reelection.
Bennett is expected to make Washington his first foreign destination as prime minister in the coming months, following an invitation from US President Joe Biden. A source close to the prime minister said the visit will not be before the Knesset finishes its summer session on August 5, in light of the close proportion of coalition and opposition votes.
The prime minister is also likely to hold off on the Washington visit until after the government’s reassessment of its policy on the Iran nuclear threat is completed, and he has finished making appointments to key roles related to foreign policy in the Prime Minister’s Office.
As such, it is unlikely that Bennett will go abroad before mid-August, and may wait even longer, the source said.
Bennett, a former Diaspora affairs minister, has also decided to forgo filling the position of a Diaspora affairs adviser. The position mostly remained empty in recent years under former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Last June, Netanyahu appointed Gabriella Elgrably-Berzin to the role, after it had been vacant for over a year. She died of cancer four months later and was not replaced.
Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff said that he is “very comfortable with Prime Minister Bennett’s knowledge and connectivity with American Jewry. Like Prime Minister Netanyahu, he has a deep knowledge of our community and is very accessible. Our discussions – including as recently as yesterday – have been meaningful.”
Daroff pointed out that the North American Jewish community has also had a long relationship with new Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai and President Isaac Herzog, who have spent many years engaging with and living among Diaspora Jewry.
An executive at a historic US Jewish organization said: “The Diaspora got the government it wanted for now at least. Isn’t that enough? Why do Israeli taxpayers need to pay for a full-time professional to be harassed by [AJC’s] David Harris and [the ADL’s] Jonathan Greenblatt all day long?”
Naama Klar, deputy CEO of the Reut Group, an Israeli think tank dealing with Jewish world issues, among others, said Israel-Diaspora ties are a strategic and existential matter for Israel and as such, Bennett should have an adviser helping him handle it.
“A prime minister who is not informed on the topic of the Diaspora can unintentionally make mistakes and neglect it,” Klar said. “The prime minister of Israel has a role not only with citizens but with Diaspora Jewry, and the way to be successful is by appointing a professional adviser.”