When Gen. Klaus Naumann arrived here Sunday night to begin a four-day official tour of Israel, he became the first German army chief of staff to visit the Jewish state.
The arrival of the strongly pro-Israel German military leader comes against a background of deepening defense cooperation between the two countries.
But his schedule acknowledges the symbolism of a visit by the top German soldier to a state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide against the Jews.
In a memorial ceremony Monday, Naumann laid a wreath on behalf of the German armed forces at the Yad Vashem Memorial to victims of the Holocaust.
And at his own request, the 53-year-old German chief of staff was to speak on neo-Nazi violence in today’s Germany at a meeting with top Israeli commanders.
Naumann is reportedly well aware that Germany’s worst enemies are now located within the German society — and not outside.
The chief of staff reinforced his liberal credentials when he cut short a visit to the United States to take part in a mass rally against racism held in Berlin on Nov. 8. He has also ordered action against soldiers suspected of involvement in neo-Nazi activity.
Naumann’s visit is a reciprocal one for a visit paid to Germany last April by the Israeli chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak. He is accompanied by senior German officers and a group of reporters.
On his first day here, Naumann held an early-morning meeting with Barak, where he reviewed a formal guard of honor. He met later with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who also holds the defense portfolio.
Reports from Bonn say he planned to review current cooperation between the Bundeswehr and the Israeli army. He was also expected to respond to requests put forward by Rabin during a visit to Bonn in September.
Germany is currently building two submarines for the Israeli navy and is also paying the cost of anti-missile Patriot batteries purchased in the United States.
In the wake of the Iraqi missile attacks Israel sustained during the Persian Gulf War, Germany also extended assistance in the acquisition of anti-chemical warfare equipment.
Naumann was due to tour Israel’s northern border area, where calm was restored late last week after a flare-up involving Hezbollah guerrilla forces in Lebanon. He was also to visit ground force installations and the headquarters of the air force and navy.
Despite longstanding Israel-German military cooperation, the visit has a problematic aspect because of sensitivity, particularly in Israel, to the buildup of German armed forces. Germany now has the largest standing army in Europe.
(Contributing to this report were JTA correspondents Hugh Orgel in Tel Aviv and David Kantor in Bonn.)
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