In the first German “TV triell” for the Bundestag election in the current affairs hour of the WDR European Forum on May 20 (report), the freshly inflamed Middle East conflict between Israel and militant Palestinians was also a prominent topic. Presenter Ellen Ehni began by referring to Angela Merkel’s Knesset statement “Israel’s security is part of Germany’s reason of state”.
None of the participants disagreed. SPD candidate Olaf Scholz emphasized how important it was to guarantee Israel’s security in the long term. “Of course, we also have very specific obligations,” said the Finance Minister. This also included arms deliveries to Israel, without specifying the exact nature of these. In this context, CDU candidate Armin Laschet emphasized that the EU is striving for a two-state solution to the conflict that has existed since 1948, which includes talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but not direct talks with Hamas. As far as Germany is concerned, “there is no question that it has a historical responsibility when it comes to Israel’s ability to defend itself.” “Not these nuclear boats”
Green Party candidate Annalena Baerbock sees indirect contacts as an important part of diplomacy first and foremost. “There must be telephone diplomacy via other countries that have influence over Hamas,” says Baerbock. In contrast to statements made in 2018 (see video below), she explicitly does not rule out arms exports to Israel in the future, “provided it is not about these nuclear boats”, as Ms Baerbock described them several times during the broadcast. After much professional criticism of her earlier statements and formulations, for example on energy policy, there is also a lack of firmness coupled with a lack of commitment in this very sensitive area. This is because the Federal Republic of Germany and German manufacturers do not produce nuclear submarines at all, but rather the – highly sought-after and probably the world’s most powerful – diesel-electric submarines in combination with air-independent fuel cell propulsion (AIP). As far as Israel is concerned, these are the so-called “Dolphin” and “Dolphin II” series, custom-built models 212 and 212A from Thyssen-Krupp Marine-Systems (formerly Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft/HDW).
Aside from the often painful ignorance of military-related topics – which is by no means unique to Ms. Baerbock – its emergence in the upcoming German parliamentary election campaign is a good time to take a closer look at its status. After all, it is about half a billion euros per boat (data on the first batch of three from 2006), of which the German government does not deny having taken over the first two plus 135 million of the third. As a result, there were six boats, the last three as the “Dolphin-II” with fuel cell propulsion, delivered or taken over with the INS “Tanin” from June 2014. The latter and INS “Rahav” were each half built by the TKMS shipyards in Kiel and Emden (according to Janes Defence, one third of the costs of around 1.04 billion euros were again borne by Berlin). Nordseewerke in Emden supplied the stern sections, while the bow and turret were built by HDW in Gaarden. With a range of 4,500 kilometers (statement to Militär Aktuell in Eckernförde: “The real limitation today is the bunkered food supply”), they are the largest of their kind built in Germany after the Second World War. (Comparison: The largest and last submarine from the war is in Bremerhaven can be visited: Type XXI). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5ubWA7ThbE In addition to their torpedoes, these submarines from Germany can presumably also be equipped – perhaps this is what Ms. Baerbock meant – with nuclear “Popeye” cruise missiles. These are to be launched from the lowest four (of ten) torpedo tubes, which, at 650 millimetres, have a larger diameter than the 533 millimetres that have been standard in the West and East for decades. This is said to have been tested off Sri Lanka (with India) in 2002, but there is no official confirmation or comment on this from Berlin or Tel Aviv. The same applies to whether this capability is a later “retrofit” or was built this way from the outset by the shipyard. While Israel denies having any nuclear weapons at all, Europe (e.g. SIPRI) assumes that Israel has around 90 nuclear weapons or warheads. At least one Israeli submarine is likely to be cruising almost constantly in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, primarily as a deterrent against Iran. Cruise missiles launched from submerged positions could be used to disable air defense systems as well as nuclear facilities. However, the sophisticated visual, listening and recording sensors on the various masts (from ELBIT and ATLAS electronics) can also be used to provide valuable situational awareness information to the country’s own political/military leadership off enemy coasts over long periods of time. The boats also transport the special forces of the naval commando unit of “Flotilla 13”, better known as “Shayetet”.
Statements:
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally thanked Chancellor Angela Merkel in a letter in 2012: “Dear Angela, I would like to thank you personally and on behalf of the Israeli government for agreeing to the delivery of another submarine. These submarines will help Israel to meet our immense defense needs in these turbulent times. The German arms delivery will make a great and long-term contribution to the security of the Jewish state.”
- An Israeli submarine commander told the British Sunday Times a year later: “We are an underwater attack force. We operate far from the borders of our own country. With the 1,500-kilometer range of our submarine-launched cruise missiles, we can hit any target in Iran.”
- Israel’s former Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Israeli TV on the occasion of the signing for the sixth boat in April 2012 (it reached Israel in 2017): “The procurement of the German submarines strengthens the Israeli Navy, which is increasingly playing a key role in meeting regional challenges. In recent years, we have made our navy the spearhead, the long arm of the Israeli military.”
- Major General Ram Rothberg, as Supreme Commander of the Israeli Navy, expressed his delight in 2013, pointing to a long relationship: “From a strategic point of view, I am pleased with the agreement on the sixth submarine for the armed forces, 54 years after we acquired the first submarine. In 2011, we celebrated the 100th submariner training course.”
Too many submarines?
In the meantime, the replacement of the first three German “Dolphin” submarines (without fuel cell propulsion) INS “Dolphin”, “Leviathan” and “Tekumah”, commissioned between July 1999 and July 2000, stationed in Haifa and upgraded in Israel from 2010, is already underway. On October 26, 2016, according to press reports, the Israeli cabinet decided to procure three more submarines. These are said to be advanced “Super Dolphin” boats, which will integrate the latest technology and AI available in the coming decade. The following month, Israel and Germany then signed a framework agreement for this, with the boats to be delivered by 2027 to replace the first three (see here, as of December 17, 2016).
This is despite the fact that the Israeli military has always denied the need for so many submarines and complained about rising maintenance costs. One accusation raised in Israel is that Netanyahu has already ordered the sixth submarine (INS “Dragoon”) from Germany, although experts have informed him that five are considered sufficient. “The peripheral benefits of a sixth submarine do not adequately justify the enormous costs of operating it,” wrote Netanyahu’s then Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in a sworn statement. Today, it is considered proven in Israel that TKMS “persuaded” Netanyahu through its sales partner Miki Ganor to the tune of millions in order to persuade him to purchase the submarines, which continued to be subsidized by the German government. In Israel, the submarine business has been the subject of a state affair in recent years, with suspicions of corruption. Did a sales partner of TKMS bribe officials in Israel so that they would support the purchase of more and more boats? What did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu know? After all, some of the players are in his immediate circle: Mr. Ganor’s legal advisor David Schimron is such also for Prime Minister Netanyahu and is also his cousin. You could also look at it this way: What was presented as an act of historical and moral acceptance of responsibility for the Holocaust and is still being proclaimed to this day – see above – also increasingly served the economic interests of German arms companies (which generally enjoy a far weaker standing in Germany than in France or England, for example) as well as domestic political actors in Israel. In Germany, on the other hand, things remained legally quiet due to the uproar in Israel. The responsible public prosecutor’s office in Bochum saw “no evidence of criminal offenses committed by TKMS employees, and no evidence of the involvement of German citizens or acts committed on German soil”. A corresponding investigation, which the authorities conducted for a long time against “unknown persons”, was discontinued at the beginning of this year.
Here for further information (including a video) on Israel’s potential nuclear weapons.
