2018-11-20 Protest in front of German Embassy in TLV: Thyssenkrupp submarine deal - a poison pill for the Israeli justice system and Israeli democratic institutions

Protest in front of German Embassy in TLV: Thyssenkrupp submarine deal - a poison pill for the Israeli justice system and Israeli democratic institutions
A small protest was conducted this morning in front of the Israeli embassy in Tel-Aviv, and a letter was delivered to the Embassy.  We called upon the Hon Chancellor Merkel and the Hon Justice and Consumer Protection Minister Barley to immediately suspend the Thyssenkrupp submarine deal with Israel.

The Thyssenkrupp submarine deal is not advancing Israeli security, and it has become a poison pill for the Israeli justice system and Israeli democratic institutions.
Read the complete post: https://inproperinla.blogspot.com/2018/11/2018-11-20-protest-in-front-of-german.html
View the video:  https://www.facebook.com/yaffa.friedman/videos/2504723306210295/ 

 Yaffa Friedman was live — with Hofeshia Biton and 2 others.

2 hrs · 

Kfir MonsonegoJoseph Zernik

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Following is the complete text of the address in front of the German Embassy in Tel-Aviv

November 20, 2018

Address in front of the German Embassy in Tel-Aviv

Thyssenkrupp submarines – a poison pill for justice and democratic institutions in Israel

Good day,

My name is Joseph Zernik, and I work under Human Rights Alert – NGO: 

• I have been investigating and reporting on corruption of the Israeli law and justice system for a decade.
• I am also one of those, who have been demonstrating now for two years near the residence of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, against his inaction and obfuscation relative to serious government corruption investigations – first and foremost the Thyssenkrupp submarine deal.

From here, I call upon the Hon Chancellor Merkel and the Hon Justice and Consumer Protection Minister Barley to immediately suspend the Thyssenkrupp submarine deal with Israel.

The Thyssenkrupp submarine deal is not advancing Israeli security, and it has become a poison pill for the Israeli justice system and Israeli democratic institutions.

Just last week I have returned from Germany, where I was invited to present our work in Goettingen University Law School, in a colloquium of law professors from various European countries. I was invited to present and discuss our report on the Israeli Justice system, which had been adopted by the UN Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review in 2018.

Our report was originally titled: Incompetence and/or corruption of law and justice in Israel. The report was several hundred page long, with numerous attachments and outside references. It was adopted in the final report on Israel with the following summary:

HRA-NGO highlighted the serious deterioration in integrity of law and justice agencies... It affirmed that the validity and integrity of any legal and judicial records of Israel should be deemed dubious at best.

In plain language it means exactly the same: Incompetence and/or corruption of law and justice in Israel.

Therefore, what appears as the current German Government position – waiting for the Israeli law and justice system to determine, whether there is corruption in decision making, relative to the submarine deal with Thyssenkrup is simply unreasonable and unacceptable.

Let’s not forget the history of corruption in international German submarine and Thyssenkrupp deals:

• One should note that government corruption, relative to submarine deals with German corporations has been previously noted in Portugal and Greece.
• One should note that government corruption, relative to a torpedo deal with Thyssenkrupp have been previously noted in Peru.,
• One should note that government corruption, relative to submarine deals with Thyssenkrupp has been suspected in South Africa, although Thyssenkrupp denies the claims.

Let’s not forget the history of corruption in the Siemens – Israel Electric Company deal:

Incompetence of of the Israeli law and justice system was also perfectly demonstrated in the case of bribes by Siemens to senior officers of the Israel Electric Company in a large gas turbine deal:

• German investigation has shown years ago that sums of about 20 million US dollars have been paid in bribes by Siemens. And yet, the Israeli law and justice system has failed to account for recipients of the money.
• More alarming was a case, where half a million dollars from the Siemens bribes fund was discovered in a secret Swiss bank account of a former Israel Electric Company officers, and the brother of another Israeli Electric Company senior officer. The Israeli State Prosecution decided to close the case for “lack of evidence”...

Let’s not forget the history of the latest Thyssenkrupp submarine deal:

According to Israeli media, Germany signed an agreement (MOU) for the purchase of 3 submarines from Thyssenkrupp, but “Germany had conditioned the go-ahead on there being no corruption found on the part of the Israeli decision-makers and senior officials involved.”

Let’s not forget the problematics of AG Mandelblit appointment, and relative to the submarine deal:

True competent investigation and justice in this matter by the Israeli law and justice agencies is highly unlikely:

• Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, a close confidant of Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Cabinet Secretary, oversees the investigation and holds the sole decision making authority relative to filing indictments. Mandelblit is widely perceived as plagued with conflicts of interest in Netanyahu’s corruption investigations,
• Specifically, Mandelblit is suspected of conflict of interest, if not collusion, relative to the submarine deal itself! As part of such deal, a secretive letter was forwarded to Chancellor Merkel, agreeing to the sale of advanced submarines to Egypt. The issuing of that letter was termed by former senior security officer “treason”. The letter was generated through an unlawful process, lacking lawful authority. Existence of the letter was discovered by chance, during a visit of Israeli President Rivlin with Chancellor Merkel, to Rivlin’s great surprise... As former Cabinet Secretary at that time, it is highly unreasonable the Mandelblit was unaware and uninvolved in that letter. And yet, there is no investigation of how such letter was generated and forwarded to the German government.
• Following a recent scandal involving Supreme Court Presiding Justice Esther Hayut, suspicions are mounting relative to integrity of the AG Mandelblit’s appointment. Former Shin-Bet Head Yuval Diskin said: “The attorney general must reveal whether he was asked for his opinion on the Sara Netanyahu case by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or anyone on his behalf before being appointed; if it turns out he failed to report such an appeal, he must resign immediately.” Regardless, Mandelblit refuses to recuse himself or resign.

Let’s not forget the problematic conduct of AG Mandelblit, relative to the investigation of the submarine deal:

Media and senior public figures and unanimous that Mandelblit and others are subverting the investigation of the submarine corruption deal:

• In November 2016, prior to in-depth investigation, AG Mandelblit stated, “no crime is suspected in PM's submarine deal”.
• In October 2017, media reported that the agreement (MOU) was signed with Germany for the purchase of the submarines. Such agreement was made possible following determination by senior Justice Ministry officers, overseen by Mandelblit himself, that “ Corruption did not reach the roots of the deal.”
• In July 2017, former Defense Minister Ya’alon, whose dismissal was correlated with the submarine purchase deal, and was possibly affected to facilitate the deal, which he firmly objected, stated, “no way Netanyahu is not involved in submarine affair”.
• By now, Netanyahu’s close confidants have been investigated, State Witness agreements were signed. Police has recommend the indictment of a list of Netanyahu’s close confidants, including, but not limited to:
  • Former Minister Mordechai Sandberg,
  • Former Deputy Head of National Security Council Avriel Bar-Yosef,
  • Netanyahu’s relative and personal counsel David Shimron.
• It is obvious now, how ludicrous AG Mandelblit’s statement was: “Corruption did not reach the roots of the deal.”
• Just last week, police announced that it recommends indictment of Netanyahu’s confidants. However, all along, it has failed to even name or investigate Netanayhu as a suspect. Immediately, former Defense Minister Yaalon issued a serious letter to AG Mandelblit, effectively accusing him of subverting the investigation. Likewise, media widely described that investigation as “not seeking the truth” in the submarine deal with Thyssenkrupp.

Let’s not forget the commitments of the German government itself:

The GFR actions are reportedly guided by its dual commitment:

• For Israel’s security on the hand,
• And on the other hand – compliance with OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

In this regard it should be noted:

• The purchase came into being through an unusual, irregular decision-making process, “over the objections of the defense establishment, including then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon”.
• Former Israeli National Security Advisor Uzzi Arad (previously Netanyahu’s confidant) has repeatedly stated that today, government corruption is an “existential risk” for Israel.
• In a recent interview, six (6) former Mossad Chiefs stated their concerns: “Something very bad happened to our leadership”.

In short:

The Thyssenkrupp submarine deal is not advancing Israeli security, and it has become a poison pill for the Israeli justice system and Israeli democratic institutions.

Therefore, I am again calling upon the Hon Chancellor Merkel and the Hon Justice and Consumer Protection Minister Barley - to immediately suspend the Thyssenkrupp submarine deal with Israel.