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While the episode involving Minister Uri Ariel and the unmanned helicopter keeps the media preoccupied, several far more important defense-related episodes have taken place. Amir Rapaport reveals the details
Amir Rapaport | 17/11/2016
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IDF Navy's "Rahav" submarine (Photo: AP)
As in many past cases, there is no connection between the intensity of the public attention devoted to a certain episode and the actual importance of that episode.
So, the episode that has been covered most extensively this week is associated with the fact that an unmanned helicopter belonging to the Volcani Agricultural Research Center was given away as a gift to the Russian Prime Minister. The incident was blown by the media to the proportions of a serious defense-related incident. In fact, it is a rather embarrassing case involving a violation of regulations relating to gifts given away by the state – not much more than that. The agricultural unmanned helicopter is not a piece of sensitive defense equipment.
The really important developments concerning Russia are entirely different. Let's start with the very visit by the Russian Prime Minister to Israel – a visit intended to advance a major agricultural agreement between the two countries. The visit and the agreement reflect the intensity of the connections between Israel and Russia, whose origins may be traced to Russian President Vladimir Putin's warm sentiments toward Israel, as was the impression of senior diplomatic and defense officials who met Putin and communicated with him eye to eye (and there were numerous meetings between senior Israeli officials and Putin over the last few years).
Putin's warm sentiments were expressed as far back as during the days of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Back then, Putin stated in a closed conversation (which is quoted here for the first time) that he would never harm Israel's security (explaining that "I have one and a half million Russian nationals living in Israel", referring to the immigrants who had come to Israel from the USSR since the 1990s).
But talk is one thing and actions are another: the most dramatic developments in the region in the last few weeks involved the advancement of Russian naval and aerial bases on Syrian soil and furthermore – the deployment of state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile batteries that restrict the complete freedom of the skies IAF had enjoyed for decades. The Russian systems can spot and identify – from Syria – aircraft taking off in central Israel. In one incident, about a month ago, a Russian-made S-200 missile was launched at an IAF fighter on a strike mission over Syrian territory pursuant to an incident of fire out of Syria into Israel on the Golan Heights.
The Submarines & the Embarrassment of the National Security Council
At the same time as the unimportant helicopter incident, the media headlines also addressed the next submarine transaction between Israel and Germany (reported for the first time by Makor Rishon/Israel Defense about two months ago). The transaction involves three new submarines, to be delivered to Israel in about a decade. One third of the financing for these submarines will be provided by the German government, as they are interested in maintaining the Kiel shipyards operational.
Channel 10 reporter Aviv Drucker reported this week that David Shimron, Netanyahu's private attorney, also represents the German shipyards – with no connection to his defending the Prime Minister.
Some of the details regarding the submarine transaction have not been fully revealed yet. For example, the fact that the new submarines will be of a different model – not the same as the Dolphin class submarines already serving in the IDF Navy. The agreement between Israel and Germany has already been signed, but the new submarine model has not been characterized yet and no negotiations have been conducted regarding the final price. The mystery surrounding this transaction may be dissolved over the next few months. At the present time, the Israeli defense establishment is not yet involved in any negotiations with the Germans.
Meanwhile, an episode concerning the National Security Council at the Prime Minister's Office has been publicized this week, when the Israel Police initiated the overt investigation stage regarding a senior official of the National Security Council. The investigation had been launched pursuant to a complaint filed with the Civil Service Commission against the former deputy head of the NSC, Brig. Gen. (ret.) Avriel Bar-Yosef, on suspicion that he had maintained a business relationship with a European businessman, thereby entering a state of a severe conflict of interests.
Avriel Bar-Yosef should have been appointed to the position of Head of the NSC last February, instead of Yossi Cohen who was appointed to the position of Head of the Mossad a month prior to that. Although the appointment had been cancelled a long time ago, no permanent head has been appointed to this day. Some of the people who were approached and offered the position declined, including former IAF commandant Maj. Gen. (ret.) Ido Nechushtan, N. who was Yossi Cohen's deputy at the Mossad and others. Maj. Gen. Jacob Ayish, who recently completed a term as IDF Military Attaché to Washington, was also reviewed as a candidate, but evidently, he declined, too. So, NTC will remain without a permanent successor for Cohen for a whole year.
Meanwhile in France, on the French island of Corsica (the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte), a massive joint aerial exercise was concluded last week by the air forces of France and Israel. The commandants of both air forces participated in the exercise personally, and even the aircraft of French President François Hollande took part.
This exercise represents the most substantial cooperative military activity by Israel and France since the glorious days of the defense relations between the two countries that were cut short by the French embargo following the Six-Day War (1967). This exercise was conducted a short while after elite units of the IDF had concluded a highly important and secret exercise in another western country, and after a joint aerial exercise by the air forces of Israel and Greece had been completed in Greece.
The massive exercise with the French is yet another illustration of how the Israeli defense establishment is currently enjoying an unprecedented period of cooperative alliances and agreements with various countries – from countries in the Persian Gulf through Singapore, India, Jordan and Egypt to Russia and Eastern Europe to Western-European countries and, naturally, the USA.
Regardless of the above, a dramatic development took place this week when Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Gilad, Head of IMOD's Policy and Political-Military Affairs Division, has announced that he will end his tenure in early 2017. Gilad was the first and thus far the only head of this division, which had been established during the days of Shaul Mofaz as Defense Minister, in the first part of the previous decade.
The New Campus in the South and the Amona Settlement
Last week, the Prime Minister and all of the senior officials of the Israeli defense establishment attended a ceremony that marked the completion of the process of populating the new IDF Training Campus in the Negev, where 9500 servicemen have relocated from the evacuated IDF bases in Tzerifin. By 2022, a new campus for the units of the IDF C4I Directorate will be completed in the Beersheba area, and by 2023 – the massive intelligence campus will be completed as well.
In his address, which concluded the interesting ceremony, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman referred to the issue of the evacuation of the Amona settlement, stating that no one should ever confront IDF troopers and commanders. He hinted that the settlement will be evacuated and that the political echelon would be fully responsible. According to this hint, it seems that the issue of the Amona settlement will occupy most of the headlines in the coming weeks.
http://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/27613
@Penguin @500 @Natan @Archdemon @GBU-28 @F-15I @mike2000 is back @Blue Marlin @Mountain Jew @Beny Karachun @Adir-M
Source: https://defence.pk/threads/israel-a...ld-first-joint-exercise.461379/#ixzz4QJoZzb5X
Amir Rapaport | 17/11/2016
Send to a friend
A+A-Size
Share on
Share on
IDF Navy's "Rahav" submarine (Photo: AP)
As in many past cases, there is no connection between the intensity of the public attention devoted to a certain episode and the actual importance of that episode.
So, the episode that has been covered most extensively this week is associated with the fact that an unmanned helicopter belonging to the Volcani Agricultural Research Center was given away as a gift to the Russian Prime Minister. The incident was blown by the media to the proportions of a serious defense-related incident. In fact, it is a rather embarrassing case involving a violation of regulations relating to gifts given away by the state – not much more than that. The agricultural unmanned helicopter is not a piece of sensitive defense equipment.
The really important developments concerning Russia are entirely different. Let's start with the very visit by the Russian Prime Minister to Israel – a visit intended to advance a major agricultural agreement between the two countries. The visit and the agreement reflect the intensity of the connections between Israel and Russia, whose origins may be traced to Russian President Vladimir Putin's warm sentiments toward Israel, as was the impression of senior diplomatic and defense officials who met Putin and communicated with him eye to eye (and there were numerous meetings between senior Israeli officials and Putin over the last few years).
Putin's warm sentiments were expressed as far back as during the days of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Back then, Putin stated in a closed conversation (which is quoted here for the first time) that he would never harm Israel's security (explaining that "I have one and a half million Russian nationals living in Israel", referring to the immigrants who had come to Israel from the USSR since the 1990s).
But talk is one thing and actions are another: the most dramatic developments in the region in the last few weeks involved the advancement of Russian naval and aerial bases on Syrian soil and furthermore – the deployment of state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile batteries that restrict the complete freedom of the skies IAF had enjoyed for decades. The Russian systems can spot and identify – from Syria – aircraft taking off in central Israel. In one incident, about a month ago, a Russian-made S-200 missile was launched at an IAF fighter on a strike mission over Syrian territory pursuant to an incident of fire out of Syria into Israel on the Golan Heights.
The Submarines & the Embarrassment of the National Security Council
At the same time as the unimportant helicopter incident, the media headlines also addressed the next submarine transaction between Israel and Germany (reported for the first time by Makor Rishon/Israel Defense about two months ago). The transaction involves three new submarines, to be delivered to Israel in about a decade. One third of the financing for these submarines will be provided by the German government, as they are interested in maintaining the Kiel shipyards operational.
Channel 10 reporter Aviv Drucker reported this week that David Shimron, Netanyahu's private attorney, also represents the German shipyards – with no connection to his defending the Prime Minister.
Some of the details regarding the submarine transaction have not been fully revealed yet. For example, the fact that the new submarines will be of a different model – not the same as the Dolphin class submarines already serving in the IDF Navy. The agreement between Israel and Germany has already been signed, but the new submarine model has not been characterized yet and no negotiations have been conducted regarding the final price. The mystery surrounding this transaction may be dissolved over the next few months. At the present time, the Israeli defense establishment is not yet involved in any negotiations with the Germans.
Meanwhile, an episode concerning the National Security Council at the Prime Minister's Office has been publicized this week, when the Israel Police initiated the overt investigation stage regarding a senior official of the National Security Council. The investigation had been launched pursuant to a complaint filed with the Civil Service Commission against the former deputy head of the NSC, Brig. Gen. (ret.) Avriel Bar-Yosef, on suspicion that he had maintained a business relationship with a European businessman, thereby entering a state of a severe conflict of interests.
Avriel Bar-Yosef should have been appointed to the position of Head of the NSC last February, instead of Yossi Cohen who was appointed to the position of Head of the Mossad a month prior to that. Although the appointment had been cancelled a long time ago, no permanent head has been appointed to this day. Some of the people who were approached and offered the position declined, including former IAF commandant Maj. Gen. (ret.) Ido Nechushtan, N. who was Yossi Cohen's deputy at the Mossad and others. Maj. Gen. Jacob Ayish, who recently completed a term as IDF Military Attaché to Washington, was also reviewed as a candidate, but evidently, he declined, too. So, NTC will remain without a permanent successor for Cohen for a whole year.
Meanwhile in France, on the French island of Corsica (the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte), a massive joint aerial exercise was concluded last week by the air forces of France and Israel. The commandants of both air forces participated in the exercise personally, and even the aircraft of French President François Hollande took part.
This exercise represents the most substantial cooperative military activity by Israel and France since the glorious days of the defense relations between the two countries that were cut short by the French embargo following the Six-Day War (1967). This exercise was conducted a short while after elite units of the IDF had concluded a highly important and secret exercise in another western country, and after a joint aerial exercise by the air forces of Israel and Greece had been completed in Greece.
The massive exercise with the French is yet another illustration of how the Israeli defense establishment is currently enjoying an unprecedented period of cooperative alliances and agreements with various countries – from countries in the Persian Gulf through Singapore, India, Jordan and Egypt to Russia and Eastern Europe to Western-European countries and, naturally, the USA.
Regardless of the above, a dramatic development took place this week when Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Gilad, Head of IMOD's Policy and Political-Military Affairs Division, has announced that he will end his tenure in early 2017. Gilad was the first and thus far the only head of this division, which had been established during the days of Shaul Mofaz as Defense Minister, in the first part of the previous decade.
The New Campus in the South and the Amona Settlement
Last week, the Prime Minister and all of the senior officials of the Israeli defense establishment attended a ceremony that marked the completion of the process of populating the new IDF Training Campus in the Negev, where 9500 servicemen have relocated from the evacuated IDF bases in Tzerifin. By 2022, a new campus for the units of the IDF C4I Directorate will be completed in the Beersheba area, and by 2023 – the massive intelligence campus will be completed as well.
In his address, which concluded the interesting ceremony, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman referred to the issue of the evacuation of the Amona settlement, stating that no one should ever confront IDF troopers and commanders. He hinted that the settlement will be evacuated and that the political echelon would be fully responsible. According to this hint, it seems that the issue of the Amona settlement will occupy most of the headlines in the coming weeks.
http://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/27613
@Penguin @500 @Natan @Archdemon @GBU-28 @F-15I @mike2000 is back @Blue Marlin @Mountain Jew @Beny Karachun @Adir-M
Source: https://defence.pk/threads/israel-a...ld-first-joint-exercise.461379/#ixzz4QJoZzb5X
