AND THEY ARE DATED 3/18/08 AFTER I sent in the post in the early morning hours after midnight. What about the days before 3/18 that I referred to? The American media was astonished Chancellor Merkel's visit to Israel got so little if any attention from the German media. It was almost like a snub. But I see they have made up for that by the articles on 3/18/08 after their neglect of the Chancellor's visit to Israel was reflected upon in other countries. I guess the German media felt COMPELLED to SAY SOMETHING.

Don´t count on us. Merkel says just about everything (she always does) but - unfortunately - won´t act on it.

To expect Germany to totally cut its lucrative business with Iran is less likely whatever the pressure and so called statements whenever opportunity and needs arise.At the end of the day,Germany will itself weigh the loss it will sustain and conduct indirect business with Iran.Fellows,business 'as usual'.

My response is not self-hating, it is empathetic. I absolutely insist on Israel's right to exist and defend itself. I believe Gush Katif should not have been given to the Palestinians before a peace agreement. etc etc I don't see myself as your self-hating Israeli or Jew. I think you should reconsider the content of my post. MK's cannot exert personal freedoms the way normal citizens can - they have a duty to represent the country - in that duty the few that chose not to attend, have failed. This was an historic event. I find their behaviour childish.

Perhaps my "self-hating" comment was excessive, but as for the rest, I rest my case. The decision of a handful of MK's to not attend this event is regrettable but since Merkel was invited by both the government and the Knesset, I see it as a cop-out by individuals.

God bless you, Angela Merkel. Repentance and forgiveness are very powerful. http://wallsofjericho.50megs.com

Well, Rivkah, as German/Israeli right now on vacation in Berlin, I can ensure you that the media is packed with this topic. The big public TV station ZDF even started a video blog about the youth in both countries. http://blog.zdf.de/realtimeplayers/ I don't know where you got your information from, but it's simply not true.

Here are a couple of links I could doing a simple search: 16 Mar (Sunday) http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,541774,00.html http://www.n-tv.de/934472.html 17 Mar (Monday) http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,542032,00.html

let alone against jews

that such a blind person could ever be its leader. It brings to mind this quote: "Kill, kill, you brave Red Army soldiers, kill. There is nothing in the Germans that is innocent. Obey the instructions of comrade Stalin and stamp the fascistic beast in its cave. Break with force the Racial arrogance of the German women. Take them as your legal loot. Kill, you brave Red Army soldiers, kill!" --Ilya Ehrenburg. Still ashamed, madame chancellor? YOU SHOULD BE!

It is probably March 18, 2008 like the other German articles on Chancellor Merkel's visit to Israel. Where was the news in Germany BEFORE I sent in the post? She has been in Israel several days and it is only now 3/18/08 the German media decided to publicize it after being chastised by other foreign press articles about the snub.

about beasts that will be nations in the latter days. I believe the four headed leapard beast is Germany's four Reichs. The Third Reich was Adolf Hitler's Germany. The Fourth Reich is coming and will be quite similar to the Third since the first three Reichs were anti-semitic. The race that settled in Southern Germany (Bavaria) long ago were ancient enemies of the Jews called Assyrians, a different race from other German tribes. There is now a Bavarian Pope, too. The Messiah is coming soon, contrary to your belief. In 2007, Resolution 666 was confirmed by the New ENPI for SEVEN years. See www.fulfilledprophecy.com commentaries by Herb Peters. Daniel in the Bible said Israel (the Jews) would sign a covenant with death that by peace would destroy many and that it would be confirmed for seven years. Resolution 666 allowed the invasion of sovereign countries for civil rights or animal rights or other treaty violations. The confirmation of that by the New ENPI for seven years that Daniel also predicted is too close to prophecy to discount. The nails in the coffin of the covenant with death will be the dividing of Jerusalem. When all the pieces are in place, the last seven years of Gentile world rule will begin and the Jewish Messiah will come at Armageddon to rule the earth and to judge the nations for how they treated the Jews. The Bible does not say the nations will be judged for how they treated the Christians. Most Christians are unknowingly apostate since the Council of Laodicia changed the sabbath to Sunday in violation of the Second Commandment. The English translators of the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible also gave the Christians a false name for the Messiah to hinder their prayers and power in the Lord. Oxford Press' The Dictionary of Surnames says the name Jesus is a Portugese man's name. The correct English translation of the name Yeshua or Yehoshua is JOSHUA which means salvation. Praying in the name of Hay-soos is as effective as praying in the name of John or Harry or Joe. In the name of Yeshua, Yehoshua, Joshua are the names following prayers Yahweh listens to. Christians must become Jews to be acceptable to God and to be in His family. They must repent of observing an apostate sabbath and return to the sabbath Adam and Moses and Yeshua observed. Revelation lists sins that are not repented of that result in a person going to hell after death. Basically, it is violations of the commandments of God without repentance. The second commandment is to honor the sabbath day OF GOD, not the sabbath of man. Mark 7:7 says, "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Many will be utterly surprised at their exclusion from heaven, particularly the Christians who remained apostate in their sabbath and refusal to become Jews in their hearts and in their holy days. They will not leave the Christmas trees God hates or the holidays of pagan Constantine for the glorious Holy Days of the Jews that Yeshua observed. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth by the multitude of apostates who believed lying pastors and would not believe what they read in the Bible.

Oh, certainly it was a cop-out by individuals. I just think that we need to hold our MKs to higher standards. The same way that I believe that Tibi does not represent Israel, neither do those MKs who do not have the stomach to put aside their own personal displeasure. As a free man he may do and say pretty much whatever he likes, as a representative of Israel he cannot. In any case, that wasn't the main point in my comment. I just thought to point out the strangeness of German shame on this issue and that I think it would be better not to aggravate it.

Well, I do hope that on her visit to the country, that she sees how small the country is, and how short distances are between where she's at, and the border. It doesn't matter which one-just as long as the point is driven home that any land that Israel gives up, however small in area, is a huge sacrifice for the country. And each time that Israel has had to make these sacrifices, it's ended up being less secure than what it was before. As for what she said in her speech, it is a sad reminder that many countries will wait until the very last minute before taking decisive action on dealing with Iran. This is clearly not a problem that these major countries can procrastinate on. Yet this is what's happening. This is an area where Israel's and the EU's interests are different. Israel is still fighting for it's survival, and every person, as well as every piece of land counts. It cannot really afford to lose either. Germany is trying to meet its energy demands, but has to make tough choices to do this. 1) Energy from Iran 2)Energy from Gazprom (Russia) via Ukraine. Trouble with this is, it's unpredictable, even more so with contract disputes. 3)Energy from Gulf States. Milder than Iran, but still these back the Palestinians. End result: Germany's position is compromised. They can only go to a point.

As an American, I viewed with disgust the documents on display at Yad Vashem about how the American govt knew about what Hitler was doing and yet refused to take action (ie: attack rail lines) specifically to halt the genocide. Just as I am angered today by the stupid US govt and State Dept supporting the terror reichlett in Judea/Sameria/Gaza with military weapons and monetary life support. I wish Israel would tell C Rice (and her replacement next year) to take a hike and for Israel to do what it needs to to protect herself.

In last 3 month NAZIS set fire almost 20 Turkish houses in Germany. Each case is ARSON by "unknown" persons but German authoritiies Try to cover its NAZI arsons as ordinary fire events So Fire event comes and find only TURKS in Germany, you never ceased to be NAZI

Now you are offending me! I did send you active links, if you are not able to use a browser, that's your problem. But maybe you want to consider doing your own research instead of acting like that. I assume your german is fluent, so why don't you go on google and put in "merkel besuch in israel". FYI, she's been there from Sunday to Tuesday and the media coverage was more than on any other official visit. If she was in Yad Vashem it's most likely she's been at his grave and it's not like only because she's German, she has to go to his grave.

Dear Rivka, I am not sure how good your German is but ifyou were to follow for example "Die Welt" one of the most read German daily newspapers, you would have noticed that all main stream German media (print&television) do follow (for the past few days already)and reflect on Merkel`s visit to Israel and her speech in front of the Knesset. I think you are jumping to conclusions very far in assuming that she does not reflect how most Germans feel about the holocaust, thus the media do not report on it!

There have not been 20 houses set to fire by Nazis! Even the fire in Ludwigshafen which made big headlines (even Erdogan was there) was NOT set to fire by Nazis, as even Turkish fire investigators say! In Ludwigshafen it was a small fire (probably caused by a cigarette on a dusty stairway) which over a time of nearly 3 hours finally developed into a big fire. The fire reachs Turks because they often live in old – but CHEAP – houses, with big families and technical problems regarding electricity and water supply. After decades one has to invest for renew the house and specially the electricity power cables. But the Turks improvise and install their own Turkish-style "solutions": not exactly German technical standard. So a defect electricity grid can cause a fire. But we all know that muslims are often fond to conspiracy theories. You could furthermore ask how your own country is dealing with minorities. Turks in Germany have far more rights than Christians in Turkey (as it's with Arabs in Israel compared to Jews in Muslim states); always the same. Finally, WE DID CONFRONT ourselves with our criminal past during WWII and the genocide, Germans organised. WHAT ABOUT YOU AND YOUR COUNTRY? Did you confront yourself with the genocide the Turks committed against the Armenians (more than one million killed civilians)?! What about the dealing of your country with the Kurds?! It's always the same: While muslims today are responsible for the major part of brutality and cruelty around the world, they are, of course, always the victims! You are good in complaining but what about SELF CRITICISM? What about the PAST and PRESENT of YOUR COUNTRY? Turkey is very ANXIOUS and tries by all means to avoid that somebody speaks about the Turkish genocide against the Armenians. They even blackmailed the U.S. But they are very eager to accuse us as Nazis though Germany is (in contrast to Turkey) one of the MATURE DEMOCRACIES in the world...

of the following total money that the US to Israel, which is used to continue repression and terror? The grand total from 1949 until 1994 is $84,854,827,200. What do you think Israel would be without this aid?

I am only ashamed that the money we give to Israel comes with strings attached as well as creating some sort of US control over what Israel does. If it was up to me, I'd give them more. Give nothing to the barabarians in Gaza. Give nothign to Egypt or Saudi Arabia... and especially not military arms.

Sometimes we non-Jews who couldn't be MORE for the State and people of Israel despair... we long for the best for the State and people of Israel, we know our responsibility (unlike those who dont care or who are anti-semitic) but we can only watch, in despair as some in Israel disappear behind higher and higher walls, which will defend Israel in the short term but can be the roots of her destruction in the longer term... Am Yisrael Chai! Merkel is recognised as being one of the most pro Israeli politicians in Europe and the things you describe as easy are not so easy in reality.