Berlin, MINA – Germany’s next chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz said that he will “find a way” to allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the country despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Middle East Monitor reported.
This came a day after Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) won Sunday’s general election.
“I told [Netanyahu] that we should meet as soon as the government is formed,” Merz said. “If he plans to visit Germany, I have committed to finding a way to ensure that he can visit Germany and leave again without being arrested,” he said.
“I think it is absolutely absurd that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany. He will be able to visit Germany,” he added.
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Netanyahu’s office had previously said Merz had invited the Israeli prime minister “to make an official state visit to the country as a form of resistance to the disreputable decision of the International Criminal Court that labeled Netanyahu a war criminal.”
The Israeli prime minister’s office said Netanyahu had congratulated Merz in a phone call after his bloc won on Sunday. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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