(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-19 07:35

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Israel's parliament yesterday that her countrymen are "filled with shame" over the Holocaust and that she bows before the victims of the Nazi genocide.

In an emotional speech, delivered in German, Merkel said her country will always be committed to Israel's security, particularly in light of growing threats from Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other leaders repeatedly appealed for Germany's help in halting Iran's nuclear program.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem March 17, 2008. [Agencies]

The address capped Merkel's three-day visit to Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of Israel's founding. Israel pulled out all the stops for Merkel, a staunch ally, raising the German flag over its parliament in a red carpet ceremony that drove home the two nations' growing alliance six decades after the Holocaust.

Lawmakers made special allowances for Merkel to address them, even though she's not a head of state. Several of the 120 parliamentarians skipped the ceremony, but the protest was overshadowed by the extraordinary warmth of the relationship.

On Monday, Israeli and German Cabinet ministers held a historic joint session, a first for Israel, and the two nations approved a series of cooperation projects. Germany already is Israel's second-largest trade partner after the US, and since the two nations formed diplomatic relations in 1965, Germany has paid euro25 billion ($39.4 billion) to Holocaust survivors in Israel.

Merkel opened her speech with a Hebrew sentence, thanking the parliament for giving her the "great honor" of addressing them in German. She immediately paid tribute to those killed by Nazi Germany during World War II.

"The mass murder of six million Jews, carried out in the name of Germany, has brought indescribable suffering to the Jewish people, Europe and the entire world," she said.

"The Shoah fills us Germans with shame. I bow before the victims. I bow before the survivors and before all those who helped them survive," she said, using the Hebrew word for Holocaust.

About 1,000 guests listened to Merkel, including Holocaust survivors, Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, former Israeli presidents and residents of Israeli towns targeted by rocket fire from Gaza. The Israeli public has largely responded with indifference to Merkel's visit, signaling that the two nations are moving toward an increasingly pragmatic relationship.