The latest gift to be delivered is a Dolphin class submarine from Germany to join the Israel navy. This will be the sixth submarine supplied by Germany to this state that continues to violate international law after having occupied Arab lands in 1967, and that imposed a strangling illegal siege on 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.
The Israeli navy already has three operating German Dolphin class submarines; two more are currently under construction and are expected to be delivered later this year, according to a February 6, 2012, report in The Jerusalem Post.
The Post report adds that the first two submarines were donated by Germany to Israel after the first Gulf war and that Germany “split the cost of the third with Israel”.
“Israel’s submarines have a second-strike capability and carry Cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads,” The Jerusalem Post says, attributing this information to foreign reports.
If true, this means that Germany is helping Israel to proliferate nuclear weapons, a violation of Germany’s commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Israel still refuses to sign.
By exaggerating the threats it claims to confront, Israel made everyone believe that its defence capability should always be buttressed. American and other Western countries’ arsenals continue to be open to Israel, while a screwdriver entering Gaza is condemned by the same arms suppliers as a possible existential danger.
While touring the region to urge parties to resume stalled negotiations, due to Israel’s rejection of all demands to halt its illegal settlement building on Palestinian land, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to ease the siege on Gaza by allowing some building material in. He did not, however, demand that the siege be ended. And while addressing the Herzliya conference in Israel — attended by many Israeli military and political leaders — he emphasised the significance of preventing any smuggling of arms to Gaza.
Worse, Ban reportedly thanked Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak for his “generosity” towards Gaza and urged more. Barak was the architect of Israel’s slaughter of civilians in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
The people of Gaza are indeed busy smuggling basic necessities for their survival through tunnels. Like moles, they had to build an underground network of transportation and clandestine trade to circumvent the ongoing siege which has become a new normal situation to which no one any longer objects.
Palestinians were told that the siege would last until the world famous Israeli prisoner of war in Gaza is released. He has been home now for almost half a year and yet the siege remains.
Palestinians are not viewed by the “international community” as having rights. Rather, whatever minimal needs or breathing space they receive is a matter of goodwill or “generosity” displayed by Israel, earned by submitting to Israeli demands.
Of course one has heard all the excuses: Palestinians could not be considered a peaceful people when they abandon civilised conduct, opting for terrorism instead, by smuggling or even manufacturing rockets, no matter how primitive, to hurl them on Israeli towns and open fields. But how could the world apply such stringent standards of behaviour and legal principles on people who have been subjected to so much international injustice, ending up living in such conditions?
No matter how much violence Israel commits, it never suffers real consequences, beyond some occasional timid criticism. It has licence to do as it pleases.
The Palestinians are lectured every moment, told that they should not use violence, not have arms, even as needed for self-defence let alone for ending the occupation, and acquiesce to whatever befalls them. Even the independent state they are being promised must be “demilitarised”, for Israel’s convenience.
How often do we hear calls on the Israelis to stop their vicious violence against the Palestinians, and how often are they denied the most sophisticated arms and military equipment even when they are aggressors in absolute defiance of international law since it was created?
Militarily, Israel has always been stronger than all its neighbours and won all its wars against them. But Israel has been defeated politically and morally by its own atrocious practices and illegal behaviour.
Had it not been for the hypocrisy, and indeed the complicity, of the so-called international community, which miserably fails even to blame Israel for all it commits, the Middle East would have been more peaceful, prosperous and stable.
But why should Israel heed any call anyway when its bad conduct is often rewarded more generously than the good.
This sixth German submarine is said to have been delayed due to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s anger at the recent Israeli expansionist construction in the Gilo settlement, in the occupied West Bank, just south of Jerusalem. German Defence Minister Christian Schmidt denied that. He said: “We are good friends and sometimes we need to talk about things that we do not think should be done regarding the settlement policy. We do not see this as a linkage [to the submarine issue] but as a part of friendly talks,” according the Jerusalem Post.
The real reason for not concluding the sixth submarine deal was Israel’s demand that Germany underwrite part of the cost. It has now been approved by Germany, following its agreement to pay part of the price, said the Post.
Israel, therefore, does not only get armament at will, it also gets it either free of charge or at a steep discount.
But which enemy of Israel will these submarines equipped with cruise missiles possibly armed with nuclear warheads will be used against? If it is not the neighbouring Arab states, which pose no threat to Israel, as one may assume, it must be Iran.
Amidst the anti-Iran belligerent rhetoric, it sounds foolish to say that Iran is not a threat to Israel either. But if Iran ever contemplates any action against Israel, there will be many volunteers to defend Israel by destroying Iran.
When I visited Germany on a study tour in late 2010, I was quite stunned when told that the main purpose of the Missile Defence System in East Europe was mainly to deter Iranian danger. I could not comprehend how Iran could be a threat to Germany. The explanation was that Iran could be a threat to Israel, which would then require German action.
Why does Israel then need to be so heavily armed and constantly at war?
Israel is an aggressor and an occupier of other people’s rights and lands, and it can hardly feel safe and secure in such a hostile environment. This kind of insecurity can only be remedied by reversing the aggression and recognising the rights of the victims.
No amount of submarines, nuclear armed Cruise missiles or any other weapons can bring security to an aggressor.
Those who spend billions of their people’s taxes to arm insecure Israel could do much better advising Israel to adhere to the rule of law and stop its ongoing aggression. That is the only way to make it secure, and to live normally and in peace.
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