A version of this article first appeared in German in “nd”: “Keine Exportgenehmigung für israelisches U-Boot – oder doch?”. We are posting a translation with permission. The corruption allegations touched upon in this article are covered in more detail in our “Case 3000: The Submarine Affair”
At the beginning of August, a tourist filmed a submarine accompanied by federal police off the coast of Rügen and posted the video on Facebook. The next day, his profile was blocked for almost 24 hours, media reported. It was the “Drakon,” a Dolphin-class submarine built by the Kiel-based company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS). It is the sixth submarine of this type destined for Israel.
The British research organization Shadow World Investigations (SWI) and German news outlet “nd” now have a letter dated August 15, 2025, from lawyers for the German government, in which the government denies having issued an export license for the submarine. This statement also corresponds to a response to a written question from Left Party MP Lea Reisner in mid-August.
Legal review
However, a week earlier, the arms company’s board of directors had claimed at an extraordinary shareholder meeting that such approval had been granted. The organization Facing Finance had asked about this at the meeting – SWI, and then the “Taz” newspaper first reported on it.
The export of war weapons, such as the submarine, requires two licenses in Germany: one under the War Weapons Control Act and one under the Foreign Trade Act. The War Weapons Control Act license for the “Drakon” was issued over a year ago; this much is undisputed. It is the final export license under the Foreign Trade Act that has thus far been missing. Could TKMS have made a mistake with its statement at the annual general meeting regarding the allegedly existing other license?
Facing Finance specifically asked about the pending approval. Perhaps a question too complex for a quick answer. However, during the shareholder meeting, the TKMS board members have a back office with lawyers who carefully review every question from shareholders and ensure that the board’s answers to the shareholders’ questions are correct, explains Luca Schiewe of Facing Finance. Thyssenkrupp also confirmed the wording of the response regarding the approval to SWI and “nd.”
German war subsidy
At the beginning of August, the German government announced that it would no longer issue permits for arms exports that could be used by Israel in the Gaza Strip until further notice. The coalition government considers it unlikely that Israel would also use submarines, although attacks by naval vessels have been reported. Political economist and author Shir Hever certainly considers it possible: Spear UAV, an Israeli arms company, launched a Viper missile equipped with a camera from a submarine in a test and was then able to read the license plate of a car six kilometers away.
The issue is politically explosive – not only because of Israel’s war in Gaza, which a growing number of experts classify as genocide. It is also an open secret that Israel is the only country in the region with nuclear weapons. The submarines are intended to be equipped with them. The purchase of the “Drakon” – and thus Israel’s war effort as a whole – is being subsidized by the German government with 135 million euros.
According to the Israeli armed forces, corvettes previously delivered to the Israeli Navy by TKMS were already deployed to shell Gaza from the sea in 2023. In June, the Associated Press quoted an eyewitness as saying that Israel had fired on people seeking aid from unspecified warships. However, the army denied responsibility. At least 31 people were killed in the incident.
Berlin-based attorney Beate Bahnweg is representing a German Palestinian man with his family in the Gaza Strip in several expedited proceedings. With the doctor, she wants to achieve a ban on export licenses for military weapons to Israel due to Israel’s violations of international law. Bahnweg told the newspaper “nd” that this also applies to the export of the “Drakon”: “This export, as well as that of other military equipment to Israel, is illegal, and we will take legal action against it.”
Investigations against Netanyahu and his confidants
In Israel, several scandals have also surrounded the procurement of warships and submarines from Germany. A commission of inquiry has been investigating the events since 2022. The list of allegations is long, but in April 2025, the commission’s work was temporarily suspended. Five high-ranking individuals affected by the investigation had claimed that their legal representation was being unduly restricted.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also among the suspects. The commission accused him of circumventing decision-making procedures in the submarine deal with TKMS, thereby endangering the security and foreign relations of the State of Israel. Nevertheless, in September 2024, the public prosecutor’s office decided against investigating the prime minister.
In 2021, criminal proceedings had already been opened in Israel against several suspects, including for corruption, including Netanyahu’s former office manager and a former ThyssenKrupp sales agent in Israel. No proceedings were ever brought in Germany; a corruption investigation by the Bochum public prosecutor’s office was closed in 2020.
In July, however, it became known that Netanyahu had demanded the dismissal of a close Merkel advisor in connection with the Israeli naval purchases from Germany. He wanted to make the deals contingent on a halt to settlement construction in the illegally occupied West Bank and the approval of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The then-German government ultimately dropped the conditions.