Doubling the prices of the new navy submarines: Former senior members of the defense establishment angrily reject the claim that the jump in prices by the Germans was due to the conduct of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to two former senior members of the political and security establishment, it was the announcements about the purchase of the submarines and vessels that led to dramatic delays in contacts.
At the beginning of the week, the Finance Committee approved "the increase of the Ministry of Defense's authorization to commit NIS 11.35 billion for security purposes." The goal is to fund the purchase of 9-7 submarines from the German ThyssenKrupp shipyard. This procurement was at the heart of the 3000 case, for which indictments were filed against former senior officials, including the former head of Netanyahu's bureau, David Sharan, and the former deputy head of the National Security Council, Avriel Bar-Yosef. To lower the cost of the submarines, and take advantage of his good relations with the then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The original agreed price was 1.2 billion euros, with Germany agreeing to fund a third of it.
In accordance with the agreement in principle between the leaders, Israel and Germany signed in October 2017, months after the planned date, a memorandum of understanding summarizing the principles of the deal.
"Already at the signing of the memorandum of understanding there was a delay due to the publications. And this continued in the professional talks between the Ministry of Defense and the shipyards. When the noise started, everyone became more careful and slow. The Germans and us went in for internal checks.
According to him, the publication of the investigation and the police investigation led to the cessation of the treatment of Netanyahu and his men in the submarines.
This is confirmed by another senior official who explains that Netanyahu's part in the affair ended after the signing of the memorandum.
"In recent years, the issue has not been parked in the National Security Council.
Once the memorandum was dropped, the Ministry of Defense handled the details.
"Apart from a few updates, Netanyahu did not deal with the issue," the senior official noted.
"Netanyahu persuaded Merkel to give the price discount in 2015. The then finance and foreign ministers, Lapid and Lieberman, were involved in the contacts. It was moves by the Ministry of Defense that made the process difficult."
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