The German government has threatened to halt delivery of a Dolphin submarine to Israel in protest of its settlements policy, a German publication has confirmed.
In a report published Oct. 30 in Der Spiegel news magazine, German officials confirmed that the government is making the threat to protest the recent Israeli government-approved construction of 1,100 apartments in the Gilo neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem.
Israel already has three Dolphin-class submarines, which are nuclear capable, with two more under construction in Kiel, in northern Germany. Last summer, Germany approved a $189 million discount for the purchase of a sixth submarine, which costs about $1 billion.
The first two submarines were paid for by the German government, and the following three were heavily subsidized as part of a Holocaust reparations deal, according to Der Spiegel. — jta