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interesting article on Germany's stalwart support of Israel
I didn't know about the Dolphin submarines
A matter of state: The politics of German anti-anti-Semitism - Wolfgang Streeck, 2024Associated with this was one of the most consequential strategic decisions of the German state in its alliance with Israel. Between 1997 and 2000 Germany supplied three nuclear-capable submarines of the so-called Dolphin Class to the Israeli navy, subsequent to the Gulf War of 1990–1991 which Germany had refused to join. For two Germany paid about half of the costs, the third it paid in full, apparently as compensation for German chemical firms having allegedly sold dual-use chemicals to Iraq in the 1980s. Two more submarines, of an upgraded version (Dolphin II), were ordered in the final months of the Schröder government and delivered in 2014 and 2015, followed by another one in 2019. Another three, upgraded further, are scheduled to be delivered between 2027 and 2029, also partly funded by Germany.
The six Dolphin submarines currently in use are Israel's only ones. While Israel and Germany do not comment on the subject, it is widely taken for granted that Israel has refitted its submarine fleet for submarine-launched cruise missiles (named “Popeye Turbo”) with nuclear warheads. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it is a nuclear power; it is however known to be in possession of the full so-called nuclear tripod, with land-, air- and sea-based carrier systems. Discussion of Israel's conduct of its wars hardly ever touches on its status as a nuclear power. It is hard to believe, however, that its nuclear capacity, and in particular its possession of unlocalizable submarines that can fire nuclear missiles from any place in the Mediterranean or the Indian Ocean, should not be a major factor explaining Israel's remarkable intransigence to demands, including American ones, for military moderation, less ambitious war aims, and diplomatic conflict solution.
