Israel negotiating with Germany about sale of additional Submarines
The director-general of the Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron, visited Berlin this week and met with his German counterpart Defense Minister Peter Struck, some high ranking Bundeswehr officers and the defense committee of the Bundestag - Germany's lower house of parliament - on the issue of the sale of two brandnew Submarines to the IDF -'Made in Germany'.
Israel wants Germany to fund the construction of these Submarines - costing about 1.2 billion Euro - or to grant an interest-free loan. Struck - and according to an article in Haaretz, the German treasury as well - is opposed to this idea. For the popular 'justification' of this deal an interesting argument was pulled out of the hat which reads as '...because of the anniversary of 40 years diplomatic relationship between the two countries...' (beginning of 2005) - as Israeli daily Haaretz reported further today.
The funding seems to be a bigger problem than the fact that Germany is barred from selling offensive arms to crisis zones.
At the visit of DM Struck in Israel this June both countries had declared 'that the military cooperation between both countries should be intensified'. But Struck made it rather clear that the German government wouldn't support any financial aid for that prospective deal...
Haaretz tried to 'interpret' it this way:
"...According to German defense sources, Germany's Defense Ministry and military support Israel's request, which would supply employment at shipyards. However, implementing the deal requires approval by the government, which is divided on the issue....
...Israel wants Germany to partially fund the construction of the submarines, which is expected to cost nearly $1 billion, or to grant a long-term interest-free loan. The German treasury is opposed to these ideas...."
Open was left although the matter whether as an 'alternative' the three Dolphin-class submarines, already 'provided' to Israel by German taxpayers, should be 'rearmed on large-scale'. After 1990 these first two Dolphin class submarines were delivered allegedly free of charge and an extended loan for Dolphin#3 was granted to Israel and it is questionable whether this 'loan' was repaid at all...
Hmmm, but I do remember that they were 'rearmed on large-scale' already with US Harpoons - according to the Washington Post - easily to be re-equipped with nuklear warheads 'Made in Israel'...
All this was undertaken for sure because of Israel's 'fear' of Iran's possible, 'nuklear capacities'.
Can fear beat faith?
War on Error, Part 22:"Sunburn"
Far Sight 3
