After Merz said last month Iran was 'humiliating' the U.S., Trump hit back, ordering 5,000 U.S. troops to be withdrawn. Merz said the main issue was not troop numbers but 'unity of purpose' and that it's U.S. interest to have a strong European component of NATO
Smotrich had written to Merz that Germany will not 'dictate' where Jews can live or 'force them into ghettos' after the chancellor expressed concern about 'de facto annexation in the West Bank'