Prime Minister Yair Lapid lands in Berlin for a diplomatic state visit together with Holocaust survivors. Photo credit: Kobi Gideon (GPO)

Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid arrived in Berlin on Sunday together with a group of Holocaust survivors, where he is expected to discuss ongoing negotiations with Iran to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.

“This evening, I arrived in Berlin for a diplomatic visit accompanied by Holocaust survivors Pnina, Avraham, Shoshana, Yisrael, and Zvi,”  said Lapid after landing in Berlin. “As we stepped off the plane together and onto German soil, we were welcomed by a German military honor guard. This is their victory, mine as the son of a Holocaust survivor and ours as a people and a nation. We will never forget.”

During the diplomatic visit, Lapid will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other senior officials to coordinate “positions on the nuclear issue,” and work out final details of a strategic, economic, and security cooperation document, which will be signed.

Before his departure on Sunday, Lapid thanked European leaders, including Germany who is part of the contingent of European nations involved with in nuclear negotiations with Iran, for their “strong position.”

Over the weekend, France, Britain and Germany on Saturday said they had “serious doubts” about Iran’s intentions to revive a nuclear deal, suggesting that a revival is not imminent following more than a year of talks.

“Following the Americans, yesterday the E3 countries [France, Britain and Germany] announced that a nuclear agreement with Iran will not be signed in the near future, that the IAEA’s [ International Atomic Energy Agency] open files regarding Iran are not about to be closed,” Lapid said. I”n recent months, we held a discreet and intensive dialogue with them, and presented them with up-to-date intelligence information about Iranian activity at nuclear sites.”

In response to the announcement by the E3 countries, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani, lamented that “it is regrettable that three European countries have taken a step in the direction of the Zionist regime’s failure of negotiations with this ill-considered statement, and obviously, if such an approach continues, they must also accept responsibility for its results.”

Lapid said that Israel together with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, have waged a “successful” diplomatic campaign to avert the signing of the emerging nuclear agreement and prevent sanctions on relief on Iran.

“It is not over yet,” Lapid cautioned. “There is still a long way to go, but there are encouraging signs.”

Meanwhile, Israel is continuing to act to prevent Iran and its proxies from creating terrorist bases throughout the Middle East and especially in Syria, Lapid said.

“I want to emphasize from here, Israel will not allow Syria to be used as an axis for the transfer of weapons to terrorist organizations, and will not accept the establishment of Iranian bases or militia bases on our northern border,” he said.