(05.03.2023)
The trial and the coup are now simultaneously underway, but while the first is lumbering along, the second is galloping forward. The hearings in the Jerusalem District Court will resume only after Passover. Until the judges return from their hiatus, the wings of the High Court of Justice might be clipped, the Judicial Appointments Committee might be under full control of the politicians, or Israel might be in the throes of a historic constitutional crisis.
(14.02.2018)
The police announcement Tuesday – that the investigations into two cases involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been completed – came 13 months after Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit decided that a “preliminary examination” of the allegations, which itself took six months, should become full-fledged criminal investigations.
Am Ende sei es die Leistungsfähigkeit von „Arrow 3“ gewesen, die auch die Bundeswehr und die deutsche Bundesregierung überzeugt habe. So der Inspekteur der Luftwaffe, General Ingo Gerhartz in einem Interview im israelischen Fernsehen: „Das System hat große Fähigkeiten. Und es gibt nun mal die Bedrohung durch Langstreckenraketen.“
Deutschland steht vor einem großen Rüstungsdeal, da die USA Israel die Erlaubnis für den Verkauf des Raketenabwehrsystems Arrow 3 gegeben haben. Bis Ende 2025 soll es einsatzbereit sein.
Arrow 3 kann auch ballistische Raketen, abgefeuert aus einer Entfernung von bis zu 2.400 Kilometern abfangen – ein Vorteil, auch für Deutschlands Nachbarländer bei möglichen Angriffen.
(14.07.2023)
According to the IDF spokesperson, the exercise includes several scenarios such as attacking strategic depth targets, achieving air superiority in space, and cyber defense against a variety of threats
According to the IDF spokesperson, the exercise includes several scenarios such as attacking strategic depth targets, achieving air superiority in space, and cyber defense against a variety of threats
For this saga to end now, one of two things has to happen: Either the prosecution has to withdraw the indictment, or Netanyahu has to admit to some of the charges and leave office immediately. But the prime minister is now breathing easy and praising the judges whom he previously suspected of being leftists. And Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who views the court’s position as a colossal mistake, is currently determined to go all the way, including to the Supreme Court.
Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan, a key witness in one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption cases, is set to testify at the premier’s corruption trial via video link from Brighton, England, beginning on Sunday.
The film producer is a witness in Case 1000 — one of three in which Netanyahu faces charges — involving suspicions that the premier illicitly accepted gifts including cigars and champagne from Milchan and another billionaire, James Packer.
According to the report, during a routine hearing at the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday, the judges engaged in a fifteen-minute discussion with the State Prosecutor‘s Office and Netanyahu‘s defense team and the other defendants, Shaul and Iris Elovich.
The judges reportedly emphasized that „the good of the state requires a settlement.“
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara will reportedly need to decide whether the Netanyahu trial should be transferred out of the Jerusalem District Court, which is currently handling it.
Discussions have been taking place behind closed doors in front of a District Court judge with no minutes recorded.
Almost a year ago, I completed my tour of duty as Israel’s Ambassador to Germany after four decades of service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In recent months, I participated in the establishment of the Foreign Policy Forum, consisting of several former senior ambassadors, who have devoted decades to promoting the foreign relations of the State of Israel in the political, strategic, economic, security and cultural fields.
Just as we all fought on Israel’s diplomatic front in many countries, we are now fighting on the streets of Israel, shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens.
(28 January 2023)
However, as of this time, the name of only one witness has been publicly announced — Amos Gilad, who was the director of the Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Affairs Bureau at the time of the purchase of the submarines.
The names of any other witnesses, if they exist, are unknown. Nor is it known how many times a week the commission meets, and which of the panel members are present when it does.
(Sep 25, 2022)
The most serious accusation by Ya’alon was that Netanyahu had concealed from him and the army brass the fact that he had given former German Chancellor Angela Merkel a green light to sell advanced submarines to Egypt. “This could reach the level of treason,” the former defense minister said. In his statement, details of which became known to Haaretz, Netanyahu reversed his opposition to the sale of the submarines in a one-to-one conversation with Merkel, but refused to say why.
(26 Sep 2022)
(03.09.2012)
Auch dieser Export gilt als hochumstritten. Nach SPIEGEL-Informationen ist Kanzlerin Angela Merkel den Israelis weit entgegengekommen: Berlin übernimmt demnach nicht nur ein Drittel der Kosten, sondern stundet auch den israelischen Anteil bis 2015.
Der SPIEGEL hatte auch über eine atomare Bestückung der Boote berichtet.
(26.09.2022)
in 2018, Netanyahu he okayed Germany‘s sale of submarines to Egypt, but refused to tell why – even to the then-defense chief Ya‘alon. The reason behind his concealment might be the biggest question yet to be answered by the State Commission of Inquiry
(15 March 2022)
The state commission of inquiry, approved by the cabinet in January, will consist of five panelists headed by former Supreme Court president Asher Grunis.
It is tasked with examining a murky $2 billion deal to purchase submarines from the German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp. More specifically, it will attempt to evaluate the procedures and decision-making employed by the political echelon related to the sensitive procurement, conducted under the government of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Sunday, the cabinet voted to establish the commission of inquiry into the incident, which dates back to 2012 and has become known as “Case 3000.” The submarine deal has already led to a number of indictments against several close confidants of Netanyahu, who called for the procurement, though the ex-premier has not been named as a suspect.
In nearly every discussion these days about a possible plea bargain with the defendant Benjamin Netanyahu, supporters of a compromise repeat the same main argument: The deal with the former prime minister is necessary in order to undermine his attack on the justice system. This argument was made most prominently by former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, who explained that he supported the deal because it would “take the sting out of the demolition of the court system.”
Talks on a possible plea deal for Netanyahu in his criminal trial have progressed in recent weeks, with a potential solution found to the major sticking point left between his team and state prosecutors, Hebrew-language media reports said over the weekend. Netanyahu has been resisting a deal primarily due to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s demand that his actions be designated as carrying “moral turpitude” — legally barring him from public service for seven years.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is set to retire at the end of January. With with no permanent successor yet determined, it‘s unclear if a new attorney general would offer the same deal if Netanyahu does not accept it within the next two weeks.
Mandelblit could see a plea bargain as favorable to end Netanyahu‘s attacks on the justice system.
An unnamed senior Israeli official told Hebrew media that while hosting Merkel for a private dinner at the end of her two-day visit to Israel, Bennett said that he had ordered a reexamination of the deal and that the defense establishment had concluded that the Dolphin-type submarines are necessary.
20. Januar 2020: Monate vor der Ausrufung des bis heute andauernden Ausnahmezustands und bereits im Windschatten von SARS II („Coronavirus“), beschließen die Staatsführungen von Frankreich, Deutschland, Griechenland, Italien, der Niederlande, Belgien, Dänemark und Portugal in einer gemeinsamen Erklärung die „European-led maritime surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz“ (EMASOH), von der Sie und 80 Millionen Andere bis heute nie gehört haben.
(21.06.2021)
This isn’t the first time Gantz has tried to launch an inquiry into the submarines affair. In November, he appointed a governmental inquiry committee headed by retired Judge Amnon Straschnov. But Mendelblit ordered that panel to hold off on starting work because he said its mandate would overlap with the criminal investigation. Moreover, Straschnov resigned after less than a month after concluding that the committee’s work would be pointless due to limitations to its authority. Nevertheless, it’s impossible not to attribute the dissolution of this committee to the fact that Netanyahu and his power structure controlled Israel at the time.
(31.05.2021)
Khalil al-Haya spoke after meeting Abbas Kamel, who visited Gaza after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a trip aimed at shoring up an informal ceasefire brokered by Cairo.
Early last week, the PM appeared to be on the way out, with his rivals about to announce a coalition. Now they have only a few days left, and much reduced chances
( December 3, 2020 )
“Behind me is one of the most advanced war machines in the world, which poses a significant leap forward in the Israeli military’s ability to ensure our strength at sea and in naval operations,” said the military’s chief, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi.
Israel agreed to buy the vessels in a 2015 deal valued at roughly €430 million (U.S. $480 million at the time), with the German government covering about one-quarter of the cost.
Several Israeli businessmen, including confidants of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former commander of the Navy, are suspects in a graft scandal connected to the purchase of the warships and submarines from German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
„These are terrorist attacks that have only one goal: to kill people indiscriminately and arbitrarily and to spread fear,“ Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s spokesman Steffen Seibert told a press conference.
Merkel‘s government defended „Israel‘s right to self-defense against these attacks“, he added.
(15.03.2021)
The Dolphin 2-class are the largest submarines to have been built in Germany since World War II. The Dolphin class boats are the most expensive single vehicles in the Israel Defense Forces.
Each Dolphin-class submarine is capable of carrying a combined total of up to 16 torpedoes and Popeye Turbo submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCMs). The cruise missiles have a range of at least 1,500 km (930 mi) and are widely believed to be equipped with a 200 kiloton nuclear warhead containing up to 6 kilograms (13 lb) of plutonium.
In the last 20 years, Israel has spent billions on submarines ordered from Germany, with a political agreement having been reached on three additional vessels. The big question, though, is: Why so many? Why does Israel want so many more submarines than are, according to experts, necessary for the defense of the country?
Angebot auswählen
und weiterlesen
(11.03.2021)
The naval attacks had not been reported before Thursday.
Derzeit prüft der Oberste Gerichtshof in Jerusalem, ob neue Untersuchungen eingeleitet werden müssen. Dafür liegen ihm unter anderem mehr als ein Dutzend Aussagen hochrangiger Zeugen vor. Darunter die des früheren Premierministers Ehud Barak, des Ex-Verteidigungsministers Mosche Jaalon, der ehemaligen Chefs des Geheimdienstes Mossad und von Generälen und Generalstabschefs. Eingesammelt und dem Gerichtshof vorgelegt hat sie die israelische Nichtregierungsorganisation „Movement for Quality Government in Israel“. WDR, NDR und „Süddeutsche Zeitung“ (SZ) konnten sie einsehen.
Our investigative department got hold of new evidence concerning the Submarines Affair (our efforts continue – the department still investigates the affair in full energy). In our petition to the High Court of Justice we requested the judges to order the following:
1. Criminal investigation of Netanyahu’s Steel Shares Affair. 2. Criminal investigation against Netanyahu in the Submarines Affair. 3. Establishing a State Inquiry Committee in order to finally investigate this severe affair.
Laschet is committed to Chancellor Merkel’s famous sentence, which she uttered when addressing the Knesset in Jerusalem in 2008, that Israel’s security is part of Germany’s raison d’être. According to Speich, “it is Laschet’s fundamental foreign policy conviction that Germany must commit itself to the security of Israel. It is a political obligation.”
(14.02.2018)
The police announcement Tuesday – that the investigations into two cases involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been completed – came 13 months after Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit decided that a “preliminary examination” of the allegations, which itself took six months, should become full-fledged criminal investigations.
Der griechische Verteidigungsminister soll sich demnach bei dem Gespräch am vergangenen Mittwoch an seine deutsche Kollegin mit der Forderung oder der Bitte gewandt haben, den Bau der sechs U-Boote des Typs 214, die an die Türkei geliefert werden sollen, zu stoppen. Denn die U-Boote könnten von der Regierung Erdogan dazu benutzt werden, „eine expansionistische Politik der Türkei in der Ägais und im östlichen Mittelmeer zu verfolgen“.
Kramp-Karrenbauer soll dies abgelehnt haben. Der Bau könne nicht gestoppt werden, auch nicht verzögert, weil der Hersteller Thyssen seit 2002 durch Verträge gebunden sei.
A year ago, Netanyahu waived his parliamentary immunity after he realized that in the Knesset elected in September 2019, he had no chance of receiving immunity. But the prime minister’s lawyers recently claimed in court that he never waived his right to parliamentary immunity, saying that the Knesset’s immunity proceedings were flawed.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz‘s Kahol Lavan party said Sunday that it has agreed to postpone the Tuesday deadline to pass Israel‘s 2020 state budget by one week, in a move that could give it more time to negotiate a deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s Likud to avoid what would be a fourth election cycle in two years.
Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz has agreed to curb Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn‘s powers, sources said, in bid to stave off election.
In return, Gantz hopes to cement the rotation agreement for the premiership with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is upheld.
It was unclear whether the High Court could ever strike down a quasi-constitutional basic law, he said. In any event, if it were possible, it would need to be a far more extreme law, implying something criminal or actively undermining democracy, he added.
Furthermore, Mandelblit rejected the notion that the coalition was abusing or ignoring the will of the voter by forming coalitions they had vowed not to form.
(30.11.2020)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to ask the Knesset again for immunity from prosecution in his corruption cases, based on his lawyers’ argument that the criminal investigation against him was flawed and should be reconsidered.
In the past month, the prime minister has told associates that he is weighing the benefits of such a move against the possible damage it could do to his image in public opinion.
Felgentreu is considered one of the biggest supporters of the move to arm the UAVs, which was separated from the actual procurement of the UAVs due to previous opposition within the SPD, which caused him to resign over the issue. Felgentreu has told „Globes“ in the past that the German army needs the Israeli UAVs to help protect its combat soldiers on missions in Afghanistan and Mali.
(14.06.2018)
Die Bundeswehr bekommt aus Israel die Drohne Heron TP. Zunächst nur in der Aufklärungsvariante, doch die Drohne kann auch bewaffnet werden und dann als Kampfdrohne fungieren.
Gantz hatte diese Runde der Auseinandersetzung in der vorigen Woche mit einem Frontalangriff auf Netanyahu eröffnet, als er in seinem Ministerium eine Untersuchungskommission einsetzte, die den Kauf deutscher U-Boote näher beleuchten soll. Es geht um den Verdacht der Korruption im engeren Umfeld des Premiers.
The commission’s first meeting, scheduled for Monday, has been postponed at Mendelblit’s request until the scope of its activity has been defined. The commission is expected to submit a final report in about four months.
Thousands of protesters demonstrated on Saturday evening against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at intersections, bridges and squares across Israel, as weekly demonstrations continued for the 23rd week in a row.
Mr. Netanyahu was not named as a suspect in an earlier police investigation of the purchase of submarines and missile boats from Germany that caught up several of his close associates. The planned commission of inquiry lacks legal authority. It may summon any witness to testify but cannot compel anybody to appear before it.
The submarine affair has become a central element in the protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where demonstrators have carried inflatable submarines inscribed with slogans like “S.S. Investigation.” Protesters are calling for a commission of inquiry into the affair, as well as calling on Netanyahu to step down in light of his corruption charges.
Police say they arrested 18 with protesters claiming 23 have been detained as they demand Netanyahu be investigated for the so-called ‚submarine affair‘
Last Thursday, in an interview with Radio Anas, Abbas said he wouldn’t dismiss supporting legislation to freeze Netanyahu’s trial. The choice of Matanyahu Englman as state comptroller was attributed to the “defection” of Ra’am members from the opposition ranks, in addition to Abbas’ support for canceling the vote that approved the establishment of an inquiry committee on the submarine procurements.
At about 10:00 P.M., thousands of Jerusalem protesters started another march from the vicinity of the prime minister‘s residence. Police tried to stop the march in the Mamila area, but demonstrators broke into a run and bypassed the roadblocks.
Meanwhile, about 1,000 people are taking part in a protest by the Movement for Quality Government at Tel Aviv‘s Rabin Square for the second week in a row, under the banner of „Corruption is leaping – the state is sinking,“ a play on the Hebrew word for submarine.
To understand what the crime syndicate that has taken over this country is after, one must first understand the goals of the man who leads it. The criminal defendant bunkered down in Balfour Street has three goals: to remain prime minister, to cancel his trial and to prevent the truth from coming out about the so-called steel shares and submarines affairs (which could result in charges that are much more serious than those in his current trial).
Netanyahu has been drawing criticism not only for his alleged misconduct in the three corruption cases against him, but also for his attacks on the attorney general, the media, law enforcement and the judiciary in his arguments that the charges against him are baseless.
Protesters have also demanded further investigation into allegations of impropriety in the purchase of submarines from Germany.
The organizers said that over the course of the week, they will establish a protest tent on Tel Aviv‘s Rothschild Boulevard – recalling the tent city that had been erected there during the social protests of 2012.
Additional protests are taking place at some 70 intersections throughout the country. Dozens of protesters are present at each junction, holding signs reading „Netanyahu is corrupt and corrupts,“ „Investigation now“ (referring to the so-called submarine affair), „The defendent needs to go home,“ and other slogans.
(26.06.2020)
Demonstration part of ongoing ‘black flag’ anti-corruption protests against the prime minister, who is standing trial in a series of graft cases
Since 1999 Netanyahu has managed to exhaust an entire political camp. His battles with the old elites was first and foremost a war of attrition. The noise that this compressor emits is only getting louder. It seems as if we haven’t been able to sleep properly for 20 years – it hasn’t given us a moment’s peace. This isn’t a compressor. This is a force of nature.
Another 10 years of Netanyahu in power is starting to look like a fairly realistic scenario.
Israel’s drone deals with Germany began in 2009, when it first leased drones to the German army for use in Afghanistan. Seven years later there was a similar transaction, this time to operate the drones in Mali.
Every day that passes provides more proof of the twisted state of Israeli democracy, in which a defendant under criminal indictment leads the government and is a candidate to form the next one.
Israel Resilience party leader Benny Gantz will reportedly support a new law allowing incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to serve in the government despite multiple indictments against him, according to Hebrew media.
Current Israeli Parliament (Knesset) legislation bars elected officials from serving as government ministers while being charged with a crime.
The activists say they use the black flag, pinning them to the back of vehicles, to symbolize the danger a prime minister under indictment poses to Israeli democracy, according to The Times.
Netanyahu was indicted last year on three charges following a years-long corruption investigation, including breach of public trust, bribery, and fraud.
(28.02.2020)
Prosecutors said in December they intended to file an indictment in the case against the key suspects in the affair: former naval chief Eliezer Merom; Netanyahu’s attorney and confidant David Shimron; and Ganor.
The suspicions published in December said Ganor and Bar-Yosef, who got to know each other during their military service, met in 2009 when Bar-Yosef proposed they cooperate to advance Ganor’s being named as ThyssenKrupp’s agent in Israel, because he “wanted to get some monetary value out of it.”
The corruption involved in the purchase of submarines and ships from the German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp makes it among the worst such affairs in Israel’s history. It involves bribery, fraud, breach of trust and money laundering by a criminal network that functioned at the highest levels of Israel’s government and business people between 2009 and 2019 , funnelling government funds from the defense budget into private pockets, by swaying decisions regarding purchases from the German shipbuilder.