The state commission of inquiry into the submarines and vessels affair informed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, former Mossad head Yossi Cohen, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, former Navy Commander Ram Rothberg and former National Security Staff employee Avner Shimhoni today (Monday) that they may be harmed by its conclusions – and must announce in the coming month if they intend to appoint a lawyer to represent them.
To review the warning letters sent by the committee
The members of the committee – Asher Grunis, Zvi Zilbertel, Karnit Flug, Gideon Frank and Kobi Bortman – emphasized that the warning letters – the details and the criticism expressed in them – “are based on the situation as it appears to the committee at this stage, on the basis of the material before it” and that “the findings and conclusions may to change after the committee completes the investigation.”
The purpose of the warning letters is to allow Netanyahu and the other senior officials to lay out their claims before the committee, before formulating its final conclusions. In the next step, the five senior officials will provide the committee with their response to the allegations raised in the letter. If the committee finds at the end of the process that there is a fear of crimes, it has the authority to forward to the Legal Advisor to the Government a recommendation to open criminal investigations.
Benjamin Netanyahu
Referring to the Prime Minister, the committee wrote that “his conduct in the issues investigated by the committee led to a deep and systematic disruption of work processes and the building of power, and to damage to decision-making mechanisms on a number of sensitive issues. In doing so, he endangered the security of the state and harmed the foreign relations and economic interests of the State of Israel.”
The warning stated that Netanyahu may be harmed if the committee reaches a conclusion that in his role as Prime Minister, in the years 2009-2016, he made decisions that had significant implications for the security of the country and the IDF’s power building, without an orderly decision-making process, he reached conclusions with Germany on a series of issues policy, security and economic without documentation and while bypassing the government, and turned the MLA into an executive body of the prime minister, which operated simultaneously and in contradiction to the Ministry of Defense.
The committee also warned that Netanyahu may be harmed by the conclusions regarding the purchase of AIP submarines. The suspicion is that Netanyahu led to the purchase of a sixth submarine on the basis of unsubstantiated assumptions, changing justifications, without regular staff work and deviating from the operational needs established by the government. Also, according to the warning, Netanyahu allegedly avoided discussing the consequences arising from the allocation of huge budgets for equipping the sixth submarine on the IDF’s readiness for security challenges in the short and long term, which were presented to him.
The committee also writes that Netanyahu allegedly tried to promote further increases in the submarine fleet, not on the basis of headquarters work and in extreme deviation from the operational needs established by the government. Also, Netanyahu promoted the replacement of old submarines with new ones and pushed the security establishment away from dealing with an issue within its areas of responsibility. This, while causing the disruption of a professional and orderly process held in the defense establishment that dealt with the timing of the replacement of the old submarines with new ones, the characterization of the new submarines and the determination of their price.
According to the committee, Netanyahu may be harmed by the conclusions regarding his involvement in promoting the procurement of two additional Saar 6 ships from Germany without the involvement of the defense establishment, which is the responsibility of the defense establishment, without discussion of the need and without an orderly report and documentation of his moves to promote the procurement (the move was stalled). Netanyahu was also warned that he might be harmed by the conclusions regarding his agreement to sell submarines to Party C (Egypt – HM).
According to the suspicion, Netanyahu made decisions on sensitive political-security questions in this context without regular examination and while excluding relevant security factors, avoided documenting meetings in a way that negated the ability to control and monitor the execution of decisions of strategic importance to the security of the state, “created parallel and contradictory channels of action and thus resulted in a risk The security of the state and the damage to the foreign relations of the State of Israel, he hid from relevant parties the political discourse he conducted even though he was warned of the consequences of the discourse on the handling of the issue.”
On behalf of the Prime Minister, it was stated in response: “The purchase of the submarines and vessels not only did not harm the security of the state – it ensures its existence. History will prove that Prime Minister Netanyahu was right on this issue as well and made the right decisions for Israel’s security.”
Moshe (Boogie) Ya’alon
Ya’alon, who served as Minister of Strategic Affairs in 2009-2013 and Minister of Defense in 2013-2016, was warned that he may be harmed if it is found that he acted contrary to the government’s decision to purchase the Sa’ar 6 destroyers by ordering the publication of an international tender without the approval of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and without informing the Committee of Ministers to be equipped
Ya’alon was also warned that he acted contrary to the government’s decision to purchase the ships, by approving the purchase of ships that were different in their purpose and characteristics and were hundreds of millions of shekels more expensive than the ones he presented to the government and were approved by it. This caused a delay in the establishment of the protection system for the gas facilities. Ya’alon was also warned that he allegedly acted contrary to the government’s decision to purchase the ships by not reporting to the government the status of the implementation of the decision and not bringing to its attention the delay in establishing the defense system for the gas facilities.
The former defense minister was also warned regarding his actions regarding the procurement of AIP submarines. According to the committee, Ya’alon stated before the High Court that the possession of a sixth submarine constitutes a violation of the state’s security, and that the decision to purchase it was made unnecessarily. This, while he supported the government in the purchase of this submarine and subsequently refrained from deciding on the size of the submarine fleet even though the issue came up before him. He was also warned For agreeing to sell submarines to third party, he acted hastily and imprudently with a foreign party through an Israeli party to find out about the change of Israel’s position regarding the sale of submarines to third party, in a way that caused political embarrassment, while he knew or should have known about the change of position.
Yossi Cohen
Cohen was warned that he may be harmed if the committee comes to the conclusion that in his position as head of the National Security Council and National Security Advisor in 2013-2015, in matters investigated by the committee, he conducted himself unprofessionally, imprudently and with a lack of transparency in a series of sensitive political and security issues.
“His conduct in the issues investigated by the committee led to a deep disruption in work processes and the building of power and damage to decision-making mechanisms on a series of sensitive issues. In doing so, he endangered the security of the state and harmed Israel’s foreign relations and economic interests,” the committee wrote. Among other things, the committee warned Cohen that he avoided clarifying to the members of the government a last-minute change made by the MLA in the wording of the government’s decision to purchase the ships and that gave an advantage to the German shipyard.
Cohen was also warned that he acted contrary to the government’s decisions for the procurement of the ships, which authorized him to engage in political contacts with the German government, by turning to different procurement channels than those approved; who acted contrary to the government’s decision by promoting the procurement of ships that differ in their purpose and characteristics and are hundreds of millions of shekels more expensive than those approved by the government, in a way that led to a delay in the establishment of the defense system for the gas facilities. This, even though he was responsible for monitoring the implementation of the government’s decision and more.
The committee also stated that Cohen allegedly tried to promote the increase of the submarine fleet in extreme deviation from the decisions of the government and professional positions, without headquarters work, promoted the replacement of old submarines with new ones without a systematic examination of the need; Caused the disruption of a professional and orderly process held in the defense system that dealt with the timing of the replacement of the old submarines with new ones, hid information from the defense system and more. Cohen is also warned that he initiated and promoted the purchase of two additional Saar 6 ships (to be used as anti-submarine ships) from Germany, an issue that is not the responsibility of the MLA, without discussion of the need (the move was stalled after his position ended). Cohen was also warned that he allegedly promoted the establishment and upgrading of maintenance infrastructure for the vessel Sailing of the Navy by a German shipyard, an issue that is not the responsibility of the MLA, without a demand from the security system and without examining the need and the implications (the move did not come to fruition).
With reference to Ram Rothberg, it is written that “his conduct in the matters under investigation reflects a deviation from the norms of behavior required of a commander in the IDF and led to damage to work processes and the building of the force. In doing so, he created the possibility of risking the security of the state and harming foreign relations and the economic interests of the State of Israel.”
With reference to Avner Simhoni, the committee wrote “His conduct in the matters under investigation was done contrary to proper administrative procedures and accepted work procedures in the state service. His conduct harmed decision-making processes on issues central to the security of the state, foreign relations and the economic interests of the State of Israel.”
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