Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday defended Germanys voting record on Israel at the United Nations, arguing that supporting the country doesnt mean backing all of its actions. The Jerusalem Post reported last week that the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized Germanys ambassador to the UN, Christoph Heusgen, for casting "anti-Israel votes" among other things. The German government strongly backed Heusgen, who previously served for years as Merkels foreign policy adviser. "A commitment to the state of Israel ... does not mean 100% agreement with all of Israels political actions," Merkel said during a regular question-and-answer session in the German parliament. She noted that European Union countries consult on how to vote at the UN, where Germany is currently serving a two-year stint on the Security Council. Germany works to try to ensure that "all tendencies that we can influence that could embody an anti-Israel stance" are removed from resolutions, she added. "So I think we are doing good work." Germany and other European countries havent joined the US in recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital and continue to criticize Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.