OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM —
Germany’s
Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that a new Iran nuclear agreement “cannot
be postponed any longer”, during his first visit as chancellor to Israel, which
staunchly opposes efforts to forge a deal with Tehran.
اضافة اعلان
Scholz’s visit, which included a ceremony at “
Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial” accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, comes amid the geopolitical turmoil sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The two heads of government — both relatively
new to office following many years when their countries were ruled by veterans
Angela Merkel and Benjamin Netanyahu — met as rapidly moving world events test
their leadership.
Policy differences on Iran, long Israel’s
arch foe, surfaced at a Jerusalem joint press conference, with Scholz saying
Germany “would like to see an agreement reached in Vienna”.
The latest round of negotiations to salvage
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal started in late November in the Austrian capital and
the talks are expected to reach a crunch point in the coming days.
The so-called
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) secured sanctions relief for Iran in return for strict curbs on
its nuclear program to prevent it acquiring an atomic weapon, a goal Iran has
always denied pursuing.
“Now is the time to make a decision,” Scholz
said. “This must not be postponed any longer and cannot be postponed any
longer. Now is the time to finally say yes to something that represents a good
and reasonable solution.”
The original 2015 agreement unraveled when
former US president Donald Trump withdrew from it, with Israeli encouragement.
Israel’s Bennett has said he is “deeply
troubled” by the outlines of a new deal taking shape, fearing it does too
little to stop Iran from getting the nuclear bomb, while granting it sanctions
relief.
Bennett stressed on Wednesday that Israel is
“following the talks in
Vienna with concern” and warned that “Israel will know
how to defend itself and ensure its security and future”.
When it comes to current events, the two
leaders have also diverged on their responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Since the invasion started last week,
Scholz’s coalition government has reversed a ban on sending weapons into
conflict zones and halted the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project between Russia
and Germany.
He also pledged 100 billion euros ($113
billion) this year to modernize Germany’s army and committed to spending more
than two percent of Germany’s gross domestic product on defense annually,
surpassing even
NATO’s target.
Israel has taken a more conservative
approach, citing its warm ties with both
Kyiv and Moscow and security
cooperation with Russian forces which have a large presence in Syria on
Israel’s northern border.
Bennett has resisted Kyiv’s request for
weapons, according to Israeli media, and this week sent Ukraine 100 tonnes of
non-military assistance, including blankets, water purification kits, and medical
supplies.
“We have a very measured and responsible
policy whose goal is both to help the Ukrainian people and to do what we can to
help alleviate some of the pressures and the consequences of this horrific
situation,” Bennett said as he stood beside Scholz.
Scholz, on a one-day trip, was later due to
meet Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and visit the Knesset, or Israeli parliament.
He postponed a scheduled meeting with Palestinian
president
Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank due to
the events in Ukraine, the German Foreign Office in Ramallah told AFP.
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