JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel released withheld tax money to the Palestinian Authority after Germany said it was a condition for purchasing a submarine, according to a German newspaper.
Germany told Israel it would not complete the sale of a sixth Dolphin submarine to Israel unless it made the concession, Welt am Sonntag reported Sunday. The sale was approved on Nov. 30, the same day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would release the $100 million in tax revenue collected by Israel for the PA.
Israel has three of the Dolphins, which are worth about $500 million each, with another two on order and awaiting delivery by 2013. The German government is discounting the new submarine by about one-third of its cost.
Israel’s Dolphins are widely assumed to carry nuclear cruise missiles, a capability that Jerusalem neither denies nor confirms.
