Germany is helping Israel to develop its military nuclearcapabilities, SPIEGEL has learned. According to extensive researchcarried out by the magazine, Israel is equipping submarines thatwere built in the northern German city of Kiel and largely paid forby the German government with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. Themissiles can be launched using a previously secret hydraulicejection system. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told SPIEGELthat Germans should be "proud" that they have secured the existenceof the state of Israel "for many years." In the past, the German government has always stuck to theposition that it is unaware of nuclear weapons being deployed onthe vessels. Now, however, former high-ranking officials from theGerman Defense Ministry, including former State Secretary LotharR l and former chief of the planning staff Hans R le, have toldSPIEGEL that they had always assumed that Israel would deploynuclear weapons on the submarines. R l had even discussed theissue with the military in Tel Aviv. Israel has a policy of not commenting officially on its nuclearweapons program. Documents from the archives of the German ForeignMinistry make it clear, however, that the German government hasknown about the program since 1961. The last discussion for whichthere is evidence took place in 1977, when then-Chancellor HelmutSchmidt spoke to then-Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan aboutthe issue. The submarines are built by the German shipyard HDW in Kiel. Threesubmarines have already been delivered to Israel, and three morewill be delivered by 2017. In addition, Israel is consideringordering its seventh, eighth and ninth submarines from Germany. The German government recently signed the contract for the deliveryof the sixth vessel. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL,Chancellor Angela Merkel made substantial concessions to theIsraelis. Not only is Berlin financing one-third of the cost of thesubmarine, around 135 million ($168 million), but it is alsoallowing Israel to defer its payment until 2015. Merkel had tied the delivery of the sixth submarine to a number ofconditions, including a demand that Israel stop its expansionistsettlement policy and allow the completion of a sewage treatmentplant in the Gaza Strip, which is partially financed with Germanmoney. So far, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has metnone of the terms. Check back on SPIEGEL International on Monday for the fullEnglish-language version of SPIEGEL's cover story on Germany'scooperation with Israel over its submarine program. I am an expert from wrist-watch-phones.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Android TV Dongles , Backup Battery Bank Manufacturer, GSM Wrist Watch Phone,and more.
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