Photo: DPAIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Bild newspaper on Friday that German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel was "totally insensitive" to meet rights groups on a recent trip to Israel. Netanyahu cancelled a meeting with Gabriel on short notice on Tuesday after the German minister refused to cancel his own plans to meet representatives of the rights groups Breaking the Silence and B'Tselem. “I think it was completely insensitive to have such a meeting at this point in time,” the Israeli PM said, explaining that the meeting took place shortly after Holocaust memorial day. Germany considers the settlements, built outside the internationally recognized borders of Israel, to be an affront to international law. A month later, Angela Merkel's government cancelled an annual consultation with Israel which had been planned for May in Jerusalem.

Source: The Local April 28, 2017 08:48 UTC