i24 News The Israeli government on Sunday approved the establishment of a commission of inquiry to examine allegations of corruption in the “submarine affair,” an agreement signed between Israel and a German naval shipbuilder in 2016.
The commission will be tasked with investigating how Israel purchased submarines and missile ships from Germany’s Thyssenkrupp.
A majority 26 government ministers backed the commission proposed by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, with the notable abstention of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who said that it was in support of Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, who voted against the probe.
Bennett, however, said that he agreed with his coalition partners on the importance of “cleansing the corruption” from the government.
“Our sole consideration is the security of Israel,” said Bennett. “The processes for defense acquisitions in this government are clean of outside considerations. And I’m very happy that an issue that has been unresolved for almost a decade, we’ve resolved in eight months. We’ve secured Israel for the next 50 years.”
Gantz has long pushed for a state inquiry into the case, as has Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, although other government ministers have been more moderate or outright opposed to such a move, such as Shaked.
The cabinet vote was supposed to take place last week but was postponed until Sunday.
{Matzav.com Israel}
