BERLIN (JTA) – The German government has threatened to halt delivery of a Dolphin submarine to Israel in protest of its settlements policy, a German newspaper has confirmed.
In a report published Sunday, German officials confirmed to Der Spiegel magazine that the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel 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, according to Der Spiegel. The newspaper has reported, based on a WikiLeaks cable, that the submarine subsidies were a response to Israeli demands for Holocaust reparations from Germany.
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