Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — Israel is seeking to finance a submarine project through
German reparations for the killing of six million Jews during World War II.

German sources said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has been pressing Berlin to subsidize the Israeli purchase of
a Dolphin-class electric-diesel submarine from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
The sources said the plan called for Germany to spend $500 million
in funds claimed by Israel for reparations for the Holocaust.

“The plan goes back to 2005 and makes Germany accountable for the reparations that East Germany never paid,” a German source said.

The United States has been briefed on the Israeli program. The State Department, in a cable released in January by WikiLeaks, reported on a five-year plan by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for Germany to pledge $500 million for reparations imposed on the former East Germany. Under a
1953 agreement, East Germany was to have assumed responsibility for reparations, in the end honored only by West Germany.

“Such a GOI [government of Israel] claim would not violate any ‘closure’ agreements about Holocaust-era claims because it would be based on the unfulfilled portion of a pre-existing agreement,” the State Department cable, dated January 2005, said.

Israel is expected to receive another Dolphin-class submarine by
2012 under the latest agreement with Germany. But the German weekly Der
Spiegel said Chancellor Angela Merkel was threatening to delay delivery in
protest of Jewish construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“The threat by German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been the subject of
considerable concern in Israel,” Der Spiegel reported on Oct. 31.

The Dolphin has become the primary submarine in the Israel Navy. The
navy already operates three Dolphins and ordered another two platforms,
under construction by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel, Germany.

In the summer of 2011, Berlin approved subsidies for a sixth Dolphin
submarine to Israel. The sources said Ms. Merkel agreed to a 135 million
euro, or $189 million, subsidy for the Israeli purchase of the $600 million
platform.

  Angela Merkel, Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, Dolphin-class submarine, East Germany, Israel presses Germany to subsidize sub deal with Holocaust reparations, Jerusalem, West Bank construction, WikiLeaks