President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog will depart for a state visit to the Federal Republic of Germany on Sunday, 4 September, at the invitation of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
At the start of their visit, which will take place between 4-6 September, President Herzog and the First Lady will be received by President Steinmeier at a state welcome ceremony with an honor guard at the Schloss Bellvue presidential palace in Berlin. After a diplomatic tête-à-tête followed by an expanded diplomatic meeting with the participation of both delegations, the President and the First Lady will be guests of honor at a state dinner held in their honor at Schloss Bellvue, which will be attended by Germany's senior political leadership.
The next day, President Herzog will hold a work meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after which he will meet Berlin Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey.
From there, both presidents and first ladies will fly to Munich to participate in the official memorial ceremony marking the 50-year anniversary of the Munich massacre, in which eleven Israeli athletes were murdered at the 1972 Olympics Games. The memorial will be attended by a large audience, including the victims' families, representatives of the Olympic Committee of Israel, and leaders of Germany, the state of Bavaria, and the city of Munich, where the speeches will be delivered.
On the third day, President Herzog will deliver a historic address at the German Bundestag, the federal parliament, and will hold a meeting with the President of the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas. Later, President Herzog and the First Lady will lay a wreath, alongside the President and First Lady of Germany, at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.
President Herzog will conclude his state visit by visiting the memorial site at the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp together with President Steinmeier, where they will deliver joint statements and meet with Holocaust survivors and German and Jewish youth from the local area.
President Herzog's late father, the Sixth President of Israel, Chaim Herzog, was among the liberators of Bergen-Belsen as a British Army officer, and in 1987 he delivered a moving speech there during his visit, the first state visit to Germany by an Israeli president.
The President will be accompanied during his visit to Germany by the Israeli ambassador, Ron Prosor, who started his position last month.