Merkel ‘regrets’ Israel PM’s snub of German foreign minister

‘German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it was “regrettable” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to receive Germany’s foreign minister following the senior diplomat’s meeting with pro-Palestine advocacy groups.
“The chancellor finds it regrettable that a meeting between Foreign Minister (Sigmar) Gabriel and Prime Minister Netanyahu did not take place,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters at a regular government briefing in Berlin on Wednesday.
Gabriel arrived in the occupied Palestinian territories on Monday. He had in advance made it clear that he would seek to meet with the Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem groups, which oppose Tel Aviv’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
Netanyahu gave the top German diplomat an ultimatum over his planned meetings, saying he would not meet him if Gabriel refused to drop the plans.’
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