JERUSALEM, March 18  - German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, addressing Israel's parliament in German and a
smattering of Hebrew, said on Tuesday she bowed in shame to
Holocaust victims and spoke of the danger of a nuclear Iran.
 

Five legislators in the 120-member Knesset stayed away in
protest, saying they did not want to hear German spoken. But
those who heard Merkel open and close her speech in Hebrew
applauded her.
 

"To speak to you in this honourable assembly is a great
honour for me," Merkel said in Hebrew.
 

"I thank you all that I am allowed to speak to you in my
mother tongue today," Merkel continued in German.
 

"The Shoah fills us Germans with shame," she said, using the
Hebrew word for the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were
killed. "I bow to the victims. I bow to all those who helped the
survivors."
 

Merkel, 53, the first German chancellor to be born after
World War Two and the first to be invited to speak to Israel's
parliament, was ending a highly symbolic three-day visit to mark
the country's 60th anniversary year.
 

She won more applause when she closed her speech by saying
in Hebrew: "Congratulations on the State of Israel's 60th
anniversary celebrations. Shalom."
 

Iran's nuclear programme was high on the agenda of her
discussions with Israeli leaders.
 

"Germany is setting its sights on a diplomatic solution,
together with its partners. The German government will, if Iran
does not give in, continue to resolutely defend sanctions,"
Merkel said in her speech, broadcast live on two Israeli
television channels and three German networks.
 

Oil producer Iran, one of Israel's enemies, denies it is
seeking atomic arms and says it is pursuing its nuclear
programme and uranium enrichment for power generation.
 

Iran's president has called for Israel to be "wiped off the
map". Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has described Tehran's
nuclear programme as a threat to the existence of the Jewish
state.
 

"The threats the Iranian president is launching against
Israel and the Jewish people are without doubt a particular
cause for concern," Merkel told the parliament.
 

"His repeated vilifications and the Iranian nuclear
programme are a danger to peace and security. If Iran gained
access to the atomic bomb, this would have devastating
consequences ... This must be prevented."
 

NUCLEAR BOMB
 

Israel, which is thought to have the Middle East's only
atomic arsenal, believes Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2010.
 

"It's not the world that must prove to Iran that Iran is
building the nuclear bomb. Iran must convince the world it does
not want the nuclear bomb," Merkel said.
 

Olmert has previously said Israel would consider "all
options" to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but
Israeli leaders have stopped short of any direct threat of
military action against the Islamic Republic.
 

Among Israel's strategic military assets are three
Dolphin-class submarines supplied by Germany.
 

In her address, Merkel, who visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust
memorial on Monday, said every German chancellor felt Germany's
"historical responsibility" for Israel's security.
 

"I am deeply convinced that only if Germany avows itself to
its everlasting responsibility for the moral disaster in German
history, we can build the future humanely, " she said,
describing Israeli-German relations as excellent.
 

Olmert, who addressed the session, called Merkel a "constant
friend" and said Israel's "ties with Germany have transcended
grim and dark events".