BERLIN - Israeli President Moshe Katsav warned in a speech to the German parliament on Tuesday that the Jewish state was concerned by the resurgence of neo-Nazis in Germany.
Katsav said the rise of the far-right could prevent the two countries putting World War II behind them.
Addressing the Bundestag lower house of parliament to commemorate 40 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Katsav said: "The growing authority of neo-Nazis and the ever firmer foothold they have in German public life worries us.
"There is the danger that the growth of neo-Nazism could postpone the end of the post-war period and prevent us distancing ourselves from the war.
"We must fight against any neo-Nazi words at an early stage, before they can spread and take hold," Katsav said.
However, he added: "German democracy is capable of standing up to this problem and will find ways of dealing with it.
"I note that the majority of Germans absolutely reject the neo-Nazis."
The extreme-right National Democratic Party (NPD) rocked Germany's mainstream parties when it won a handful of seats in an eastern German state parliament last year.
The German government has tried unsuccessfully to ban the party.
The late Ezer Weizman addressed the German parliament as Israeli president in 1996 in its former home of Bonn, but Katsav was the first Israeli head of state to address the German parliament since it moved to the renovated Reichstag building in Berlin.
The burning-down of the Reichstag on February 27, 1933, was the date on which "the tragedy began which led to the systematic extermination of the Jewish people", Katsav recalled.
"As the president of Israel, I stand here in the name of the Jewish people, mourn the murder of my people and say: never again."
On Wednesday, the final day of his three-day trip, Katsav will visit the new memorial in central Berlin dedicated to the six million Jews killed by the Nazis.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom became the first high-ranking Israeli official to visit the site, a giant field of concrete blocks, on May 19.
Katsav said Germany could be proud of its achievements since the end of World War II, and he said the Jewish people had good reason to be grateful to the country which spawned their one-time persecutors.
"I thank Germany for its contribution to the strengthening of the Israeli state... On the international stage, Germany is a true friend of Israel's."
Katsav's speech followed an address to the Israeli parliament by German President Horst Koehler in February in which he said responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust was an integral part of Germany's national identity.
05/31/2005 12:56 GMT