In a speech in the Bundestag, Israel’s President Izchak Herzog expressed his thanks and respect for Germany’s support for his country. On the basis of joint commemoration of the Holocaust, the two countries could shape a common future.

Israel’s President Izchak Herzog has called for the partnership between Germany and Israel to be deepened. At the same time, the memory of the German crimes under Nazi rule must be preserved, he emphasized in a moving speech in the Bundestag on Tuesday.

“The Jewish nation is a nation of remembrance,” said the President. This is part of their identity. He called on the deputies to stand up and pray together to commemorate the souls of the six million murdered Jews.

“The State of Israel is proud of its partnership with Germany,” Herzog continued on Tuesday. “We greatly appreciate Germany’s contribution to Israel’s security and success.”

Bundestag President Bärbel Bas said: “Anti-Semitism is not just a problem of the past. Not just a problem for the others, the extremists. Anti-Semitism is among us, in the middle of our society.” Here there should be no turning a blind eye and no misunderstood tolerance. Bas promised to work to promote plans to set up a German-Israeli youth organization.

At the end of his state visit, Herzog wanted to visit the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp memorial together with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.