German minister says Trump support not necessarily good for Israel

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel expressed his grave concern Wednesday for Israel’s future, telling an academic conference that the government’s ambivalence toward a Palestinian state showed a lack of direction and suggesting that President Donald Trump’s unflinching support wasn’t necessarily in Israel’s best interest.

Germany is one of Israel’s closest and most important allies, and Gabriel stressed he was worried about its path given the prolonged stalemate in peace talks.

“As a friend of Israel, and as a foreign minister of a country with a special commitment to your country’s security, I am sincerely concerned about Israel’s mid- to long-term options,” he said in an address to the Institute for National Security Studies’ annual conference.

“What exactly is Israel’s strategy in this conflict? Some members of Israel’s Cabinet are explicitly against the two-state solution ... these, at best, mixed signals do not go unnoticed in Europe where there is clearly growing frustration with Israel’s actions.” In an open challenge to critics of a Palestinian state, Gabriel asked: “How do you want Israel’s future to look like? Are you prepared to pay the price of perpetual occupation?”

Gabriel warned Israel against being lulled into indecision because of the warm embrace of the Trump administration, which recently recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and has been critical of the Palestinian leadership.