Germany's next chancellor has no objection to Netanyahu's visit despite ICC warrant

Friedrich Merz, who is tipped to become Germany's next chancellor after his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) party won the election, said he would ensure that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could visit Germany despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.

“If he is planning to visit Germany, I have also promised myself that we will find a way to ensure that he can visit Germany and leave again without being arrested,” Merz told a news conference in Berlin.

Netanyahu's office said Monday that Merz had told the Israeli prime minister that he intended to invite him to visit Germany, in defiance of an arrest warrants issued against him by the International Criminal Court.

Netanyahu congratulated Merz in a phone call after his conservative bloc came in first in Sunday's German general election, the prime minister's office said.

Merz told Netanyahu that he would invite him to visit Germany "in defiance of the International Criminal Court's shameful decision to brand the prime minister a criminal war," the office added.

A spokesman for Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union party confirmed they had spoken by phone after the election but declined to comment on the conversation.

Germans feel a responsibility to Israel because of the Holocaust and Merz has made clear he is a strong ally, even though Germany is a signatory to the ICC.

The court's judges in November issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies committing war crimes.

(Agencies)