I along with many others criticized Netanyahu for folding, but I also cautioned my readers that such decisions don't happen in a vacuum and Israel and Netanyahu obtained a quid pro quo behind the scenes for acquiescing to this folly.
It turns out that Netanyahu didn't cave in at all - he was simply blackmailed.
According to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, German Chancellor Angela Merkel threatened Prime Minister Netanyahu with cancelling a German agreement to deliver a sixth Dolphin-class submarine to Israel unless Israel resumed the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority.
Directly after Israel announced it would resume transferring the funds, a German government official announced that Germany would not only build and deliver the submarine to the Israeli navy, but pay up to one-third of the construction cost.
At the time of this writing, the sum the Germans have agreed to underwrite amounts to 135 million euros, the equivalent of $182.4 million dollars while the amount of money released to the 'Palestinian' Authority amounted to about $130 million.
In addition the new submarine, which like all of Israel dolphin subs can fire cruise missiles and support nuclear weapons enhances Israel's deterrent strike capability quite nicely, especially if things heat up with Iran.
So in retrospect, Netanyahu didn't cave. He made a rational choice and received a sixth submarine Israel needed at a 30% discount that amounted to substantially more than he was giving up to the 'Palestinians'. I would have made the same decision.
Now, why the Germans would do this is another story. Germany's ship building industry is in dire straits and they certainly needed the work. But on the other hand, Germany is one of Iran's biggest trading partners, and the new submarine might be used in hostilities that could affect that particular bottom line severely.
It may simply have been a case of political correctness run amuck and coalition politics with the German left needed by Merkel to sell the new eurozone preservation deal she's working on to the Bundestag.
( hat tip, Carl)
4 comments:
It seems that the Germans haven't changed much.
i follow the shell game ff has described, however, this does give the palys $130 million in hard currency.
to spread around at their discretion.
some of course will be kicked overseas to re-elect hussein, and some will end of in private bank accounts, yada, yada, but this will also buy a tremendous amount of ammunition.
This is a VERY difficult situation for Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership to be placed in. It is truly heartbreaking. As a result of this 130 million dollar fund transfer to the Palestinians, there is no question that Israeli Jews are going to die. If Iran gets nuclear weapons capability, there is no question that Israeli Jews will die. Furthermore given Palestinian hatred for America, there is a very good chance Americans will die as a result of this funds transfer to the Palestinians. If Iran develops nuclear weapons capability, it is as certain as the rising and setting of the sun that Americans on the American mainland will die UNLESS we redepoly our forces to defensible positions along our borders and place a moratorium on immigration from the Middle East.
Now with that said it is NOT the job of Israeli leaders to worry about how their policies affect America. They need to worry about how their policies affect Israel. By choosing to release the funds to the Palestinian Arabs the Israeli government in effect ensured the death of some Israeli citizens. If Iran gets nuclear weapons capability, the death of some Israeli citizens is also assured. The Israeli leadership would need to ask themselves which prospect is less bad. Also, is the additional submarine needed to be able to deal effectively with Iran. Apparently they've concluded that the death of Isralei Jews at the hands of the Palestinians is less bad than death of Israeli Jews as a result of Iranian nuclear weapons. I can see why they might reach this conclusion. Also, they must have concluded that this submarine from Germany is mission critical to dealing with the Iranian nuclear weapons program.
I have to say I don't envy the position the Israeli leaders are in. All I can say is if some other country attempted to play the same underhanded game with America that Germany played with Israel where they threaten to withhold from us something we need for our defense that they already agreed to supply us with unless we send money to a bitter enemy who once they get the money guarantees the death of some our citizens, I would be absolutely livid at this country and would eagerly await the opportunity to serve this country a dish of revenge!! One will surely reap what they sew.
Germany managed to essentially get away scott free with their attempt to exterminate the Jews in the early 1940s. As a result, their descendants apparently learned nothing.
It would have been nice if America could have explained to Germany that if you deal treacherously with our ally in this manner you will lose all US military support for your national defense. Unfortunately due to our financial situation we will be forced by necesssiaty to scale back our committments in Europe very soon. So this would not work. If we could have sold Israel the subs ourselves that would have been good, however, given our situation and our limited industrial capability every thing we can manfucature for the foreseeable future will be needed for our own defense. As such, there's really nothing we could have done even if we wanted to.
Israel is in a very difficult position. I pray their leaders make prudent decisions. Israel is the most important buffer between us and Islamic terrorists who wish to destroy us. The decisions they make have a major impact on us.
I think they need to get to work on their own submarine probgram so they won't be in this position in the future. I'm sure Israel has the technical expertise to build such things.
Israel needs to be self-sufficient militarily to avoid these vulnerabilities. The lessons of 1948 and the Six-Day war holds true, and those who back Israel, such as Canada need to do the same.
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