German Anger Over Israeli Settlements Could Cost Israel a Submarine
By ROBERT MACKEY NOVEMBER 1, 2011 7:38 PM

In response to the Palestinian Authority’s successful bid for membership in Unesco, Israel decided to take a number of punitive steps on Tuesday, including the accelerated construction of 2,000 new homes for Israelis in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the homes would be built only in areas occupied by Israel since 1967 “that would remain in Israeli control under any future peace agreement,” Haaretz reported that a spokesman for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said that Israel had effectively decided “to speed up the destruction of the peace process” by expanding Jewish settlements.

Outside the region, Israel’s decision could further complicate an arms deal with the German government, which is strongly opposed to any expansion of the Israeli presence in East Jerusalem or the West Bank. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was already so exasperated with Israel’s settlement policies, Der Speigel reported on Monday, that her government had threatened to pull out of a deal to partially subsidize the purchase of a submarine for Israel’s navy.

As Der Spiegel explained:

Germany has been delivering submarines to Israel since the end of the 1990s following the first Gulf War. The first two submarines given to Israel were entirely subsidized by the German government, but those subsidies are being reduced with each additional purchase. Under the current program, the government is subsidizing one-third of the cost of the submarine.

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http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/german-anger-over-israeli-settlements-could-cost-israel-a-submarine/?_r=0
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‘Der Spiegel’: Israel’s German-built submarines can launch nukes
JUNE 11, 2012 BY EDITOR

JERUSALEM (JWN and agencies)—Israel’s fleet of Dolphin-class submarines, built and partially funded by Germany, are capable of launching nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday.

There have been rumors for years about the Israel Navy’s nuclear “second strike” capability as a deterrent to nuclear attack. The German government has long known about this design feature of the diesel-electric Dolphin-class submarines it has supplied Israel, but has chosen to keep quiet about it, the magazine claims.
The cruise missiles are reportedly a modification of the Israeli-manufactured Popeye missile and can be launched from a submerged submarine by a sophisticated hydraulic system, Der Spiegel claims.

The magazine’s elaborate, 12-page expose on Israel’s submarine capability, titled, “Secret Operation Samson: How Germany arms nuclear Israel,” is being published on Monday.
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http://jerusalemworldnews.com/2012/06/11/der-spiegel-israels-german-built-submarines-can-launch-nukes/


Operation Samson: Israel's Deployment of Nuclear Missiles on Subs from Germany

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/israel-deploys-nuclear-weapons-on-german-built-submarines-a-836784.html