World
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu for bilateral talks next Thursday.
Updated : Oct 02, 2015, 07:49 PM IST
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu next Thursday for talks, as part of a regular annual meeting of the two countries' cabinets.
The two leaders will hold bilateral talks before joining a plenary with ministers from both sides, in what would be the sixth such meeting. Such "government consultations" is a format Germany has with only a handful of countries, including India and China.
Germany is widely seen as Israel's strongest European ally but their ties have been strained in recent years. Netanyahu strongly opposes a deal hammered out between six world powers including Germany and Iran ending a 13-year standoff over the Islamic republic's nuclear program.
And Merkel has frequently joined Western leaders in criticising Israel's settlements in the West Bank.
Read: Israeli PM Netanyahu launches all-out assault on Iran deal at UN