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| The German-made INS Rahav, the fifth Israeli Navy submarine, arrives at the military port of Haifa on January 12, 2016. In September 2015, Israel received delivery of the fourth Dolphin 2 class submarines from Germany. A third of the cost was funded by Germany as part of its military aid to Israel. The submarines, the most sophisticated in Israel's fleet, can be equipped with missiles armed with nuclear warheads. (Photo JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images) |
Tim Daiss
In a convoluted development intersecting the energy sector and Middle Eastern geopolitics, media in Israel is reporting that Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has ordered a police probe into allegations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, David Shimron, used his close relationship with the Israeli leader to influence him to award a $1 billion contract to build three navy submarines to ThyssenKrupp, a German multinational conglomerate with a 4.5% ownership stake held by the Iranian government.
The subs will be used to protect Israel’s massive offshore natural gas field in the Mediterranean. According to a report on Friday in The Times of Israel, Shimron was a representative of the company in Israel. The inquiry will also focus on a separate 2014 Defense Ministry tender for navy ships, also involving ThyssenKrupp.
