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In a recent New Yorker profile of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, interviewees who know her well said that nearly all her principles were "negotiable". They also said that one of the few values on which she is unbending is her support for Israel.
It was perhaps more natural for a previous generation of German politicians - largely from the West - who, having lived through the Second World War, felt that they had a moral obligation to the Jewish state.
Mrs Merkel was born after the war and grew up in then Communist East Germany, where the Shoah was barely ever mentioned and Israel was seen as a colonialist entity, but she is the chancellor who has most embodied the ties between the two nations. On various occasions she has said that the security of Israel is a central element of modern Germany's very existence.
The 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and Germany is a stark reminder of the long, slow healing process that has been taking place between the two countries. In the early 1950s, the first Holocaust reparations agreement was negotiated and the Germans indirectly supplied the IDF with arms, but it would take over 16 years for the traumas to be overcome and official relationship to be opened up. The reparations deal caused the most violent political protests the young Jewish state had seen, and when the first German envoy, Rolf Pauls, was sent to Israel, many objected to the appointment of a man who was an officer in the Wehrmacht.
Nearly all that antipathy in Israel has disappeared. Berlin has become the second most popular destination (after London) for young Israelis seeking to live in Europe for a few years. It is no longer a taboo to support Bayern Munich and Germany regularly tops the list of Israelis' favourite European countries in polls.
Meanwhile, Germany's commitment to Israel's security has extended to supplying submarines which are reported to be capable of launching nuclear missiles. But the political climate is becoming less comfortable. A recent deal for the supply of German missile boats took years to negotiate.
Mrs Merkel remains as loyal as ever, her commitment all the greater given that she does not get on with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has had a number of testy conversations with him in recent years over Israel's settlement policies. But as Germany increasingly asserts itself and seeks to become a global power once again, will the next generation of its leaders follow in Mother Merkel's footsteps?