By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here Tuesday in a special address to Israel’s Knesset (parliament) that Germany will always be committed to Israel’s security, particularly in light of growing threats from Iran.
“If Iran were to obtain nuclear weapons, it would have disastrous consequences. We have to prevent this,” Merkel was quoted by local daily The Jerusalem Post as saying.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres told Merkel during a meeting at the president’s residence in Jerusalem that the U.S. and Europe must present a united front in order to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
Iran was accused of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program but the country has denied the charges and insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Promising to be vigilant about Iran’s nuclear program, Merkel said that Germany would always stand by Israel, and her country must speak out against racism and anti-Semitism.
“Especially in this place, I emphasize: every German government and every chancellor before me was committed to the special responsibility Germany has for Israel’s security,” she said, adding that this historic responsibility is part of German’s fundamental policy.
During World War II, about six million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany. The holocaust, carried out in the name of Germany, has brought indescribable suffering to the Jewish people, Europe and the entire world, she said.
“The Shoah fills us Germans with shame. I bow before the victims. I bow before the survivors and before all those who helped them survive,” she said, using the Hebrew word for Holocaust.