Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Thursday that Israel had purchased four warships from Germany reportedly to help secure its off-shore gas fields.
“I am pleased to announce that three days ago we added an important component to our defence force. We purchased four new Saar vessels,” Xinhua quoted Netanyahu as saying during the Israeli Air Force pilots’ course graduation ceremony.
“The state of Israel is building our defence force year by year, from decade to decade, with planes, submarine, air defence systems like Iron Dome and the Arrow missile, and with some of the most sophisticated offensive weapons in the world,” he said.
Reports in the local media has indicated that Israel will use the new Sa’ar vessels to protect its newly found Tamar and Leviathan gas fields from possible terror attacks and Hezbollah rocket fire.
Netanyahu also thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel “for her commitment and constant assistance to Israel’s security.”
According to the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, the German government contributed 115 million euros(about $140) to the estimated 1 billion euros deal.
Germany is emerging as Israel’s top navy supplier, after it delivered the Jewish state a fourth Dolphin-class submarine in September.
Germany often subsidises defence projects in Israel as part of its atonement for the Nazi Holocaust during the Second World War.