Germany's outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Israel on a farewell tour Sunday, after a 16-year term during which she cultivated warm relations with the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said he and Merkel would discuss "regional threats and challenges, especially the Iranian nuclear issue", and maintaining Israel's "strength in all spheres".
She will also visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and meet Israeli tech leaders, Bennett's office said. Germany and Israel forged strong diplomatic ties in the decades after World War II, with Berlin committed to the preservation of the Jewish state in penance for the Holocaust. Advocates for the Palestinians have urged Germany to demand an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that began in 1967.
Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, criticised Merkel for regarding Israel's 54-year occupation as "temporary".
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