During her visit to the Israeli Knesset on March 18, German Chancellor Angela Merkel apologized to the Jewish people for “the mass murder of 6 million Jews” that was “carried out in the name of Germany.” She also pledged that her nation had an “everlasting responsibility” to ensure the existence of the Jewish state.

Merkel’s pro-Israeli stance is a marked departure not only from the mindset of her predecessor, but also from the mindset of many of her people.

The relatively recent elections of pro-Israeli European leaders like Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi have caused a dramatic up-turn in the relations between Israel and the major powers of Europe. Merkel’s visit to Israel established annual joint cabinet sessions between Israel and Germany; Sarkozy has been an outspoken advocate of Israel’s right to protect itself; and Berlusconi has announced his intentions to visit Israel during its 60th anniversary as a pledge of support for “the only real democracy in the Middle East.”

Current Israeli-European relations may be the best they have been in over two decades. As the Jerusalem Post reports,

Clearly, the situation is better than at any point since 2000, when the peace process broke down. Although the diplomatic failure and following violence was initiated by the Palestinian and Syrian leaderships, European regimes and elites blamed Israel, resulting in a firestorm of criticism that was often hateful and untruthful.Relations are now probably better than at any time since the early 1980s. With the end of the Palestinian intifada in 2003, Israelis’ withdrawal from—and the Hamas takeover of—the Gaza Strip, European experience with radical Islamist terror, and the growing threat from Iran’s nuclear drive, the situation has shifted. Today, the governments of the four main European countries—France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom—are all quite friendly toward Israel, with the first three being especially so.

This surge of European goodwill toward Israel, however, has mostly been the work of certain influential governmental elites. Among the European populace, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is still a growing trend.

Germany’s Der Spiegel published a survey in its May 2002 issue that stated that 25 percent of Germans polled agreed that “what the State of Israel does to the Palestinians is no different than what the Nazis did during the Third Reich to the Jews.” This shocking statistic was followed by reports that right-wing adolescents in German schools are displaying levels of anti-Semitism that had long been considered unthinkable in that country. The word “Jew” is again becoming a popular insult in German schools as disapproval for Israel grows in Europe.

The noble efforts of Merkel and other governmental elites like her are causing Israel to look increasingly to Europe as an ally—especially as America’s global hegemony seems to be faltering. This development, however, will end up being dangerous for Israel.

As anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism continue to grow in Europe, eventually the pro-Israel leaders like Merkel will be ousted for working against public opinion. In this event, Israel would find itself looking to an “ally” that is really an enemy and would find itself in a position to get double-crossed.

This is exactly what God prophesies in the biblical book of Hosea: “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound” (Hosea 5:13). Students of Bible prophecy will recognize that Ephraim is the ancient name of modern-day Britain, just as Judah refers to the modern nation of Israel and Assyria refers to modern-day Germany. (Read The United States and Britain in Prophecy and Germany and the Holy Roman Empire to prove these national identities.)

As Philadelphia Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has explained, “Israel will become ‘lovers’ with the Germans. This move will lead to their destruction. It is not the Arabs who will destroy them. The friendship between Germany and Israel will lead to one of the biggest double-crosses in the history of man!”

For further explanation of this double-cross, read Jerusalem in Prophecy.