Earlier this week, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who visited Israel, underlined the strength of his country’s ties with Israel as he ended a recent tension between the two countries over German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel's decision to meet with leftist Israeli groups Breaking the Silence and B'Tselem.

At a joint press conference after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Steinmeier said German-Israeli relations were strong enough to "weather some storms from the past two weeks."

Netanyahu called off an April 25 meeting with Sigmar Gabriel, after the Foreign Minister refused to cancel talks with the two groups which, Israel say, unfairly tarnish Israel's image and provide support to the country's critics.

Steinmeier had not scheduled meetings with either group.

"The unique relationship of our two states is too important to be measured solely by the question of who a legitimate interlocutor should be," the German president said.

"I believe that we can and should be able to lead an open and honest dialogue with one another, and to my mind, need no new rules."

"We should not impose any restrictions, we should have the trust that friends like we are will be able to interpret what they hear in the right way," Steinmeier said.

The German president, who was himself Foreign Minister before his nomination to the presidency, pointed to his visit to Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial as a "commemoration that our generation should never forget where we came from and what we have to achieve."

Netanyahu hailed his country's "unique partnership" with Germany.