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Germany to spend €115m on Israel warships deal

December 15, 2014 at 12:39 pm

Germany will spend up to 115 million Euros on the construction of four warships worth 1 billion Euros that Israel plans to purchase, the German Bild am Sonntag newspaper revealed on Sunday.

The newspaper said that Germany’s Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter sent a confidential letter to the German Budget Committee on 11 December, confirming the Germany federal government’s intention to contribute 115 million Euros from its 2014 budget on the Israeli purchase.

The paper said the ships are intended to secure Israel’s economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea, and will be [purchased from the ThyssenKrupp Marine shipbuilding plant in the northern German city of Kiel.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during her visit to Israel in 2008 that Germany has a special responsibility toward Israel because of the Holocaust and that Israel’s security is part of “the German state’s consciousness”.

Germany cooperates with Israel in the field of defence industries and the sale of arms, despite recent developments in the Middle East and Israel’s continued illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.

In June, Germany sent an advanced Dolphin-class submarine to Israel as well as detonators worth 900,000 Euros, German Der Spiegel newspaper reported. Germany was reported to have paid one third of the deal amounting to 600 million Euros.