Germany backs Israel after Iran war in first high-level visit
BAT YAM, June 29 — German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt expressed support for Israel today during a visit to the site of an Iranian missile strike near Tel Aviv, part of the destruction left by this month's 12-day war.
It was the first visit by a senior foreign official since the war between Iran and Israel, which ended on Tuesday after a ceasefire was announced.
'We must deepen our support for Israel,' Dobrindt said, speaking amid the rubble in Bat Yam, south of the coastal hub of Tel Aviv, where an Iranian strike killed nine people including three children.
Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the German visit a gesture of 'solidarity' and urged the international community to reimpose sanctions on Iran.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on June 17, on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Canada, said Israel was doing the 'dirty work... for all of us' by targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the 12-day war with Iran, resulting in 28 deaths, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent media restrictions.
In Iran, Israeli strikes killed at least 627 civilians and injured nearly 4,900, according to official figures. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
41 minutes ago
- The Sun
BBC ‘regrets' not pulling Glastonbury stream after anti-Israel remarks
LONDON: British public broadcaster the BBC apologised Monday for not pulling a live stream of a punk-rap group's performance at the Glastonbury festival when they made anti-Israel remarks. 'With hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen,' the broadcaster said of Bob Vylan's show, in which the group led the crowds in chants of 'Death to the IDF', the initials of the Israeli military. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said after there was 'no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech'. The BBC said that 'millions of people' watched its coverage of the festival 'but one performance within our livestreams included comments that were deeply offensive'. 'The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence,' it added. 'The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves.' Media watchdog Ofcom warned Monday that it was 'very concerned' and that the BBC had questions to answer. 'We have been speaking to the BBC over the weekend and we are obtaining further information as a matter of urgency,' it added. Controversy descended on this year's event before it even began over the inclusion of Irish rap trio Kneecap, one of whose members was recently charged under terror legislation. During their show on Saturday, one Kneecap member wore a T-shirt dedicated to the Palestine Action Group, which is about to be banned under UK terror laws. The chants about Israel's military were led by Bob Vylan's frontman Bobby Vylan, and were broadcast live on the BBC. Glastonbury's organisers said the the comments had 'very much crossed a line'. 'We are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence,' the festival said in a statement. Avon and Somerset police said Saturday that video evidence would be assessed 'to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation'. The incident has caused a diplomatic headache for the UK, with the Israel embassy issuing a statement saying 'it was 'deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival'. Kneecap, which has made headlines in recent months with its pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel stance, also led crowds in chanting abuse against Prime Minister Starmer. Starmer and other politicians had said the band should not perform after its member Liam O'Hanna, known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence. He appeared in court this month accused of having displayed a Hezbollah flag while saying 'Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah' at a London concert last year. A video of the concert resurfaced and caused controversy. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Palestinian militants Hamas are banned in the UK, where it is an offence to express support for them.
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Malay Mail
Israel says it wants peace with Syria, Lebanon after fall of Assad and Hezbollah's decline
JERUSALEM, June 30 — Israel said today it is 'interested' in striking peace agreements with neighbouring Lebanon and Syria, a potentially historic shift in the region after decades of war and animosity. With Syria under a new leadership after the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement weakened, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told journalists his government wanted more normalisation agreements with Arab countries. 'Israel is interested in expanding the Abraham Accords circle of peace and normalisation,' Saar said of the US-brokered deals that Israel signed in 2020 with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. 'We have an interest in adding countries — Syria and Lebanon, our neighbours — to the circle of peace and normalisation while safeguarding Israel's essential and security interests,' Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem alongside his Austrian counterpart Beate Meinl-Reisinger. Control of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has long been a source of tension between Israel and Syria, which are technically still at war. Saar insisted that the strategic plateau, which Israel seized in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the United Nations, 'will remain part of the State of Israel' under any future peace agreement. Following Assad's overthrow in December, Israel moved forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone in the Golan, and has carried out hundreds of strikes against military targets in Syria. In Lebanon, the clout of militant group Hezbollah has diminished after it had emerged bruised from a conflict with Israel last year, fuelled by Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel, however, has kept up strikes against Hezbollah despite a November ceasefire. There was no immediate response from Lebanese or Syrian officials to Saar's remarks. The latest push for peace comes after as 12-day war between Israel and Iran which ended last week, and as pressure rose on the Israeli government to end its offensive in the Gaza Strip, prompted by Hamas's deadly attack in October 2023. On Sunday, a senior US diplomat in the region said the Iran-Israel ceasefire could pave the way for a new Middle East. 'What just happened between Israel and Iran is an opportunity for all of us to say: 'Time out. Let's create a new road',' said Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey who is also a special envoy to Syria. 'The Middle East is ready to have a new dialogue, people are tired of the same old story,' he told Turkey's Anadolu state news agency. — AFP
Malay Mail
2 hours ago
- Malay Mail
‘Terrible failures': Netanyahu's Iran lustre fades, comes under fire at home as pressure grows to end Gaza war
JERUSALEM, June 30 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rise in popularity during the war with Iran may already be fading, as pressure mounts at home to end the conflict in Gaza. Netanyahu claimed victory over the Islamic republic in the 12-day war that ended with a ceasefire last week, after President Donald Trump ordered US warplanes to join in bombing Iranian nuclear sites. Political scientist Assaf Meydani, in a column on Israeli website Ynet on Saturday, said that alongside a 'victory for both Trump and Netanyahu' in Iran, the Israeli leader 'will have to explain a series of failures'. Most notable among them, according to Meydani, is Netanyahu's 'failure to end the campaign in Gaza', where Israel has been fighting to crush the Palestinian militant group Hamas since October 2023. 'Hamas, though battered, has not been destroyed, and 'Swords of Iron' has become prolonged attrition,' Meydani said, using Israel's name for its military campaign in the Gaza Strip. 'The people of Israel are strong, but tensions are simmering.' Israelis fearful of the threat of a nuclear Iran rallied behind Netanyahu as he led the campaign against Israel's longtime rival. Now that that war is over, domestic and international pressure has resumed to secure an end to the fighting in Gaza. A public opinion poll published by Israel's Kan public broadcaster the day after Tuesday's ceasefire with Iran suggested a rise in support for Netanyahu. But while his approval ratings went up compared to previous polls, 52 percent of respondents in the Kan survey still said they wanted Netanyahu — Israel's longest-serving prime minister — out of office. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they wanted the Gaza war to end, compared to 22 percent who favoured continuing the fighting. Israeli newspaper Maariv said Friday that its polling showed a 'surge' for Netanyahu immediately after the ceasefire with Iran had 'evaporated almost entirely' within days. In the coastal hub of Tel Aviv on Saturday, thousands of people gathered to demand a ceasefire deal that would bring home the dozens of hostages still held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war. Liri Albag, who was released from captivity in January under a short-lived truce, told the crowd that Netanyahu and Trump 'made brave decisions on Iran. Now make the brave decision to end the war in Gaza and bring (the hostages) home.' A demonstrator in a clown costume with a mask depicting US President Donald Trump holds a baby puppet depicting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next to a man lying on the ground depicting an Israeli hostage. — AFP pic 'Terrible failures' Trump wrote on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that 'Netanyahu is negotiating a deal with Hamas that will include the release of the hostages.' On Sunday, he added: 'MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!' On the same day, Netanyahu said that the war with Iran had created 'opportunities' to free the remaining hostages. Netanyahu has also faced renewed pressure from one of his political rivals, former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Criticising the Netanyahu government's 'inability to decide' on Gaza, Bennett called for 'a comprehensive agreement that includes the release of all the hostages' to end 'the terrible impasse and political confusion'. 'Netanyahu must step down. He has been in power for 20 years... that's far too long', Bennett told Israel's Channel 12 in an interview that aired on Saturday. 'The people want change, they want calm,' added Bennett, who is widely expected to run for office again in the next elections, scheduled for late 2026. Gil Dickman, a prominent activist demanding action by Israel to secure the release of the hostages, said that while 'the operation in Iran was a success', Netanyahu had 'failed' to 'make people forget his responsibility' for failing to prevent Hamas's unprecedented 2023 attack. Dickman, whose cousin Carmel Gat was killed in captivity and her body retrieved from Gaza in August, told AFP that Netanyahu's 'terrible failures and the abandonment of the hostages will not be forgotten'. Expressing 'cautious optimism' after Trump's recent remarks, Dickman said there was 'apparently an opportunity to end the war'. 'We couldn't save my cousin, but we can still save those who are still alive in Gaza.' — AFP
