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Netanyahu: German submarines important to Israeli security

06 June 2012 03:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that submarines supplied by Germany to Israel are very important to Israeli security, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

After the German magazine Der Spiegels’ published earlier this week a reporting that the Dolphin-class subs sold to Israel are capable of launching nuclear missiles, Netanyahu told the editor- in-chief of German tabloid Bild during an interview, that through the sale, "(Germany) demonstrates its commitment to Israel’s security."

He also said that it is important for Israel to know how to defend itself. Quoting Winston Churchill, Netanyahu said, "Give us the tools, we will defend ourselves."

But the Israeli prime minister neither admitted nor denied that Germany provided Israel with submarines with nuclear capabilities during an interview with a German tabloid in Jerusalem.

Der Spiegel also wrote that Germany is mulling to sell Israel an extra three subs with nuclear capabilities, in addition to the six they have already sold to the Jewish state.

The diesel electric powered subs are the biggest to have been made by Germany since the World War II.

Israel currently deploys three diesel-powered Dolphin-class submarines which entered service in the early 1990s and were built by Germany’s leading shipyard company HDW.

Another three, whose construction also began at HDW’s Kiel dockyard in 2006 are scheduled to arrive in Israel sometime in the coming year.