Damage to Israel’s Security Inflicted by Submarine Affair Will Linger for Decades
Even if Israel’s legal system deals with the crimes allegedly committed in two huge defense deals – the purchase of missile ships and submarines from the German company ThyssenKrupp – it won’t be able to fix the economic and security harm that this affair has caused the state. The defense establishment now realizes that this affair, in which the prosecution announced plans to file indictments on Thursday, will be with it for many years to come.
Over the last three years, ever since the scandal broke, the defense establishment’s procurement of submarines has become a sensitive subject. Consequently, it is making almost no progress. The deal to buy a sixth submarine is currently frozen, and its ultimate fate remains unknown. The military is reserving the right to cancel the sub’s acquisition as a bargaining chip in the negotiations it expects to hold over the coming year with the Finance Ministry on a multiyear plan that will dictate its budget.
In addition to the deal to purchase this sub, Israel signed an agreement with ThyssenKrupp to examine the feasibility of buying additional subs – a seventh, eighth and ninth. But in light of the criminal investigation into the existing purchases, the chances that these additional subs will ever be bought are slim.
