In the Chancellery, Friedrich Merz shows Yitzhak Herzog a photo of a beach: Why the state guest is moved

Art in the Chancellery recently caused a stir when Angela Merkel had two paintings by Emil Nolde first hung up and then taken down again . Nolde wasa Nazi , a Hitler admirer, and an anti-Semite . Since Monday, we know what kind of painting Chancellor Friedrich Merz has hanging in his office in the Chancellery: It is a photograph of a beach in Israel , Zikim Beach. We know this because Friedrich Merz showed this photo to the first foreign guest of his term in office, the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog.

Under the caption "Zikim beach. Hope can overcome darkness," Merz posted a video of this scene on his social media. The photo had hung in his office in the Bundestag for years, but only started hanging in the Chancellery today, and it would stay there, he explained to the Israeli president. Yitzhak Herzog immediately recognized the beach and reacted with delight. He turned to a companion not visible in the video and said: "Eden, this is fantastic, this is Zikim Beach." And then he made Merz a promise: When he came to Israel, he would visit this beach with Merz. "It's very moving."

The photograph, hanging above a light-colored sofa, shows blue skies, white sand, and a few beach huts. An idyllic scene. But that's only superficial. Zikim Beach is Israel's southernmost beach. Just a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, on clear days you can see the Gaza skyline from here.

Here Hamas murdered

On October 7, 2023, the beach was a target of Hamas terrorists. They reached their destination by speedboat, planning to use the beach to reach the nearby Kibbutz Zikim. There, they were able to repel the attackers, but they murdered ten Israelis on the beach and nine more in a nearby shelter.

The Zikim region was subsequently a military exclusion zone for a long time, but was apparently reopened in March. Yitzhak informed Friedrich Merz that Zikim had been rebuilt, and people were living there again. He then said: "What a beautiful gesture, thank you very much." The two shook hands. Herzog: "That's very moving."

In the comments on X, there is praise for Merz's gesture, but also criticism: "The children of Gaza no longer know hope," writes one X user. Another: A Palestinian village stood on the Zikim site until 1948.