Wikileaks: 'German submarines to Israel as Holocaust 'reparations'...

'Reparations' at the service of slaughter, violence, aggression & occupation! 

'Recurring images of Lebanon'

Dokument dato: 2005-01-04 14:02:00

Release dato: 2011-01-22 21:09:00

Kilde: Embassy Tel Aviv

header:

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

Hovedtekst:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000045

SUBJECT: (C) PM"S ADVISOR ON RENEWED REPARATIONS CLAIMS AGAINST GERMANY, RESTITUTION CLAIMS AGAINST POLAND

1. (C) Summary: A GOI working group charged with developing a five-year plan on Holocaust-era reparations, pensions and restitution is considering a recommendation that the GOI ask Germany for about $500 million -- possibly in the form of new German-made submarines -- in compensation for what the GOI says is that portion of the 1953 German-Israeli reparations agreement that had been attributed to East Germany, but never paid. xxxxxxxxxxxx (strictly protect), contended that such a GOI claim would not violate any "closure" agreements about Holocaust-era

claims... 

(Note: In previous discussions and e-mails, xxxxxxxxxxxx indicated to Emboff and EUR/OHI that his draft paper would also include a recommendation for the GOI to press for restitution for Jewish property and assets in Arab lands from which Jews fled.)

.....  Most of the amount paid to Israel under the 1953 agreement was in the form of goods transferred from West Germany to Israel. In this case, Israel is considering a request for military goods, probably two submarines, worth about $500 million, he said. (Note: xxxxxxxxxxxx was undoubtedly referring to Dolphin-class submarines, three of which the GOI received in the early 1990s from Germany. The model now sought by the Israeli Navy costs about $350-500 million per submarine.)

6. (C) &This does not constitute a new claim,xxxxxxxxxxxx took pains to point out. Rather, he argued, it stems from

incomplete implementation of an existing agreement, and, as such, should not come under the terms of any agreement with the United States not to raise new reparations claims against Germany. He noted that he reviewed his analysis with Amb. Stuart Eizenstat, the former U.S. special envoy for Holocaust-era property claims, when Eizenstat visited Israel in November. According to xxxxxxxxxxxx Eizenstat concurred that nothing in the U.S. closure agreement with Germany in 2000 would preclude Israel from independently seeking redress of an issue stemming from a preexisting agreement. xxxxxxxxxxxx said he hoped that the U.S. would not do anything that could be seen as opposing or undermining Israel,s bilateral approach to Germany. xxxxxxxxxxxx agreed to emboff"s request to keep the embassy and U.S. Special Envoy O"Donnell apprised of working group deliberations and other matters of potential U.S. interest, and to brief the Ambassador on the restitution plan as it nears completion.

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Future Work: Poland and Arab States

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7. (C) Finally, xxxxxxxxxxxx noted that Poland would likely be the next area of focus of the GOI restitution efforts, and that the GOI would work in close coordination with the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) and the other main survivor and restitution bodies in Israel and abroad. All of the above are in addition to the GOI Ministerial Committee,s continuing research into expanding pursuit of restitution claims for Jewish property and assets from Arab lands.

'Nakba'