Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had attempted to persuade then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her term to dismiss one of her most senior advisors, an investigation by German news outlet Panorama revealed on Thursday night.
The investigation revealed that in discussions regarding the purchase of one of the submarines in Case 3000, also known as the "submarine affair," the prime minister demanded that Merkel fire Christoph Heusgen, who was her foreign policy advisor at the time. Heusgen also claimed in a Panorama interview that there were attempts from Israel to remove him from his position.
According to the investigation, Heusgen demanded that Netanyahu stop construction in the West Bank settlements as a condition and establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel in exchange for transferring the submarine, which would be the sixth submarine exported from Germany to Israel, the German news source Tagesschau reported.
Between 2010 and 2011, Ron Dermer, then-advisor to the Prime Minister's Office, approached the German ambassador to Israel, Harald Kindermann, and demanded, on behalf of Netanyahu, that Heusgen be removed from his position, Army Radio reported, with Merkel having refused the demand.
Dermer then turned to Axel Springer Publishing, which publishes the newspaper Bild (known for the Qatargate affair), and a year later, Bild published an article presenting Heusgen in a negative light, Tagesschau reported.
In Qatargate, Eli Feldstein, a member of Netanyahu's media team, was arrested on charges of leaking a classified document to Bild on behalf of the prime minister in October of last year.
Heusgen was later appointed Germany's ambassador to the UN in 2017 after working as Merkel's foreign policy advisor. The submarine was eventually sold, with Germany's Federal Security Council approving the export in late 2023; however, construction in the West Bank had not been halted, Tagesschau reported.
Israeli officials testify on Heusgen
Several other Israeli officials have also testified about demands made by Heusgen in exchange for the submarine and other naval exports, according to the Tagesschau.
Officials who spoke on Heusgen include former Israeli ambassadors to Germany Jakov Hadas and Yoram Ben Zeev, as well as former Defense Ministry planning chief Amos Gilad.