Merkel to Netanyahu: Iran must leave Syria, but nuke deal okay
Tehran’s religious war will push more refugees to Europe, PM warns
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel emerged from their 90-minute meeting in Berlin on Monday still disagreeing about the merits of the Iranian nuclear agreement, but in accord about the need to push Iran out of Syria.
Germany and Israel agree, Merkel said at a press conference with Netanyahu after their meeting, that Iran’s influence in the region is “very worrying.”
“This is why we feel we need to make every diplomatic effort to address Iran’s ballistic missile program, and also its activities in Yemen, the presence of the Iranian army in Syria, and to exert our influence in such a way that Iran is pushed out of this region,” she said.
Netanyahu said that pushing Iran out of Syria is not only important for Israel, but should also be important for Germany because of the prospects of a “religious campaign” inside the country that will propel even more refugees toward Germany.
“The Iranian military presence right now in Syria includes about 18,000 Shi’a militia, commanded by Iranian commanders,” Netanyahu said, noting that they come from Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.
Iran, he warned, has both a military goal and a religious one.
“Iran wants to increase the number of militia to 80,000 and to basically conduct a religious campaign in largely Sunni Syria – which is 96% Sunni – to try to convert the Sunni. This will inflame another religious war, this time a religious war inside Syria, and the consequences would be many, many more refugees, and you know exactly where they will come,” he said.
“Iran should leave Syria – all parts of Syria – and I think we have to band together to confront this Iranian aggression – the world’s foremost sponsor of terror,” he said.
Regarding the Iranian nuclear deal, known formally
as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Merkel acknowledged that the information Israel provided to Germany and the IAEA from the nuclear archives it spirited out of Iran was important and should be investigated, but said Israel and Germany have a difference of opinion regarding the agreement and its effectiveness.
“Germany did not cancel this agreement, and together with other European partners, we stand by it,” she said. The US withdrew from the accord last month.
Asked how Germany can negotiate with a country whose leader Ali Khamenei tweeted on Sunday that Israel is a “malignant cancerous tumor” that needs to be “removed and eradicated,” Merkel said that Germany strongly condemns and denounced this type of language, including in meetings with the Iranians, but believes the JCPOA is the best way to keep Tehran from getting a nuclear bomb.
“We stand by our commitment to the safety and security of Israel, and have said this very clearly to Iran,” she said. “On the one hand I have a very tough position on Israel’s security, but I also say that with this agreement we have more transparency because Iran was about to acquire a nuclear capability.”
Netanyahu disagreed politely with Merkel, saying that he respected her “enormously,” and that “we are fortunate to have this great relationship between us.”
Then he summed up his opposition to the deal by saying that in exchange for Iranian consent not to enrich uranium for a single bomb today, the JCPOA allows them to “enrich unlimited uranium for 100 bombs, 200 bombs, within seven, eight or 10 years. I thought that was a very bad deal.”
Netanyahu also referred to Khamenei’s tweet, and said that it is “amazing that at the beginning of the 21st century, somebody talks about destroying Israel – that means destroying another six-million-plus Jews. It is really quite extraordinary that this goes on, but this is what we face.”
Netanyahu and Merkel have met almost 20 times over the last nine years, with some of those meetings marred by strong disagreements regarding the Palestinian issue and the settlements. None of that emerged publicly on Monday, as the Palestinian issue took a backseat to the talk of Iran.
Merkel said at the press conference that the diplomatic process was addressed, and that Germany continues to support a two-state solution, “but we seem to have a rather complicated situation now because no talks are taking place.”
Regarding the situation in Gaza, Merkel said: “We talked about Gaza, we talked about the abuse of children and civilians to act against Israel.”
Netanyahu told reporters after the meeting that he discussed the situation in Gaza with Merkel and said that the recent riots there were a result of the crisis caused by the Palestinian Authority cutting funds, and Hamas using what money remained to build its terrorist infrastructure. He said Israel was considering different possibilities of how to prevent a humanitarian crisis there.
“Israel is doing the most on this issue – perhaps the only one doing anything,” he said. Following the meeting with Merkel, Netanyahu flew to Paris where he is scheduled to meet on Tuesday with another supporter of the JCPOA, French President Emmanuel Macron. On Wednesday he will continue on to London and a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May. •