The day on which DW's interview with Israel's Ambassador Ron Prosor takes place in Berlin is a day like no other. It's the day Israel commemorates its fallen soldiers and the victims of terrorist attacks on April 21 every year.

Israel is still under pressure, under attack even 78 years after its founding, Prosor says at the beginning of the interview, which is conducted by DW's Berlin correspondent Simon Young.

"It's a very special day today and just think: You entered the Israeli embassy here in Berlin, and you saw the amount of security around us. And it really emphasizes how Israeli embassies [and] Israeli diplomats have to work abroad."

Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Prosor adds, the country has been practically at constant war.

Ambassador: Iranian weapons threaten Europe as well

On the Day of Remembrance, many Israelis commemorate those who had made it possible for people in Israel to continue to live in freedom and democracy, Prosor said.

But the Day of Remembrance comes as Israel faces massive criticism around the world and also in Germany for the war in Gazaand this year's attacks on Iran and Lebanon.

Prosor first talks about the US-Israel war with Iran. "For years, Europe or the world has been negotiating with the Iranians. And not only did it not stop the Iran nuclear program, but the ballistic missiles that are produced in Iran [were moved] over to Moscow." Russia was using them in Ukraine and thereby threatening Europe's backyard, he said.

With regard to Israel, the ambassador adds, Iran posed an existential threat to the country. "The mullahs and ayatollahs are basically stating [that it is their] policy to annihilate the state of Israel, to eradicate the state of Israel. I think we should all learn that this ideology is deadly. We saw that ideology with [the Islamist militant group] Hamas. We saw that ideology with Hezbollah. And Iran."

Have countless military operations carried out since October 7, 2023 — when Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel — really made the country safer? Prosor has a clear answer to that: "How does the region look? For the first time in Lebanon, a government without Hezbollah. [Syria's former leader] Bashar Assad is drinking vodka in Moscow. The mullahs and ayatollahs in Iran are weakened, [former Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah [is dead] and Hezbollah and Hamas [are] weakened. We have an opportunity to really change the region now."

Prosor on two-state solution: German politicians talk 'like parrots'

But Israel's relations with Germany are strained at the moment: The last German-Israeli government consultations took place eight years ago. The German government repeatedly criticizes the government of Israel, warning it against further attacks in Lebanon that would prevent an end to the war against Iran. The Israeli army's actions in the Gaza Strip are also facing massive criticism by politicians in Berlin, as is the violence committed by Jewish settlers in the Occupied West Bank.

Prosor says: "There are many disagreements between Israel and Germany. So we can focus on that, but we can also focus on the half-full part of the glass."

He lists German politicians who visited Israel after Hamas' October 7 attacks. "The president, the foreign minister, the chancellor, the chairman of the foreign committee, the president of the Bundestag — uncomparable with other European countries."

The ambassador then brings up the subject of the two-state solution, the call for a secure state of Israel and an equally secure Palestinian state. Prosor says he sees "a lot of politicians basically repeating like a parrot: two-state solution."

'Only a strong Israel can achieve peace'

The ambassador explains that, during his tenure as head of Israel's Foreign Service between 2004 and 2007, he had been involved in Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. At the time, he had been one of those who hoped to achieve a peaceful solution. 

"I believed in it," he said. "I think many Israelis believed in it."

The situation changed after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre. "We will do everything, on the one hand, [to] reach out to everyone who really wants peace with us. On the other hand, [we will] hold the Shield of David very, very close to our chest, because only a strong Israel, a very strong Israel can achieve peace in this region."

The Star of David, known as Shield of David in Hebrew, is an acknowledged symbol which represents both Jewish identity and Jewish religion.

Prosor: Merz should have more tact

Finally, Prosor addresses a current controversy between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Following a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Merz had expressed concern that Israel might proceed with a "de-facto annexation of the West Bank." In response, Smotrich posted a statement on X: "Mr. Chancellor, the days when Germans dictated to Jews where they were permitted or forbidden to live are over."

During the DW interview, Prosor tries to calm the waters. He has defended the chancellor as a friend of Israel and told DW that Merz had made his statement on Israel's Holocaust Memorial Day, of all days.

"What is important here, is the day that it was said. And that's why I think the minister came out, because it was said on Holocaust Memorial Day. And this is 'Fingerspitzengefühl' [tact, or sensitivity]. You can say the same thing a day after."

This article was originally published in German.