Israel's National Security Agency (NSA) replied Wednesday to claims made by blatantly anti-Netanyahu Channel 10, regarding the purchase of four warships and three Dolphin class submarines from Germany. The channel claimed that the submarine deal was negotiated by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his lawyer, David Shimron, in a way that circumvented the proper channels.
Channel 10's Raviv Drucker, who has links to the New Israel Fund through an NGO he founded, said that Shimron also represents Miki Ganor, who is the representative of the German manufacturer of the submarines in Israel. Drucker also claimed that then-Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon objected to the deals.
The NSA said it was responding to "a wave of false reports" on the matter.
The ships were purchased "in a professional and orderly way, with no external influence," it said. "As part of the preparations for the defense of the gas fields and installations, the government decided to purchase four field ships. The decision was reached following the recommendation of the defense establishment, the NSA and the Foreign Ministry. In the course of the examination, several options for purchasing the ships were considered, in view of the operational needs raised by the IDF and defense establishment. At the conclusion of the professional examination, it was decided – based on diplomatic, operational, technological and budgetary considerations, to carry out the purchase in an agreement between the governments of Israel and Germany."
The NSA said that then-Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon was in the loop, contrary to the media reports. The decision was also supported, added the agency, by then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and by the Finance Ministry.
The submarines were also purchased "with the recommendations of all professional elements in the DoD, IDF and NSA, as is shown in numerous documents and in many discussions."
The NSA denied the media claims that there was an option for purchasing the submarines from another source. They noted that Israel also received a grant in hundreds of millions of euro from the German government as part of the deal.