Israel Seeks Defense Independence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently committed Israel to a 350 billion-shekel ($110 billion) investment over the next decade to boost independence in critical arms production. 

The announcement, detailed during a meeting of defense chiefs at Shin Bet headquarters on Dec. 25, came one day after the prime minister, at an Israeli Air Force graduation ceremony, stated that he had approved, along with the defense minister and finance minister, a sum of 350 billion shekels “over the next decade to build an independent Israeli munitions industry. We want to reduce the dependency on any party, including allies.”

This is a great move for Israel, Netanyahu has also stated earlier that the alliance with America is good, but waiting on approval like a vessel state is not what Israel needs in today’s world. I remember the slow walk by the Biden Administration in delivery of weapons that had already been bought by the IDF. Even now with a friendly President in the White House it seems that Israel is like a beggar on a street corner at times. Recently Israel shipped defense weaponry to Germany, also a gas deal with Egypt was also worked out between the two nations. Good for Israel.

Israel is surrounded by enemies in the Middle East and Northern Africa. If you look at a map Israel is the tiny dot in the middle of Islamist who have sworn to destroy them. My fear is that America is turning from its hard commitment of Israel to a more neutral position. That my friends is not good for the US.

Only a nation blessed by Almighty God could find itself capability to repeal a sneak attack and wars on all fronts and come back, in many cases stronger than before. The Bible clearly states that the Jews will come home and make the desert blossom as a rose. It surely has.

As with my nation, I don’t agree with everything that they do, but for Israel and the US this friendship is in our best interest as well as theirs. We may give them aid, but it comes back in investments in our military complex and even more importantly in intelligence from a very fragile and complex region.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Rh

Israel delivers Arrow 3 to Germany, in largest defense export deal ever

Completing $4.6 billion deal, missile defense system being operated by another country for 1st time; ministry chief: ‘We Israelis, descendants of Holocaust survivors, want to see Germany strong’

By EMANUEL FABIAN 

Nazi Germany tried to exterminate the Jews, now by the Grace of God Israel will help defend them. What a great picture of grace and healing. Rh

Israel on Wednesday handed over its Arrow 3 long-range missile defense system to the German Air Force in a ceremony at an airbase south of Berlin, completing a 4 billion euro ($4.6 billion) sale, the largest defense export deal in Israel’s history.

The completion of the sale, which was formally signed in September 2023, marked the first time the Arrow 3 system has been deployed beyond the borders of Israel and the United States, and the first time the advanced system was operated independently by another country.

The system was deployed at the Holzdorf Air Base in eastern Germany, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Berlin, with additional sites to follow.

From the Israeli side, the ceremony was attended by Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram; the chief of the ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development, Danny Gold; Israel Aerospace Industries CEO Boaz Levy; the director of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization, Moshe Patel; and other top officials.

German media reported that German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Chancellor Friedrich Merz would not be attending the ceremony, but other German military and defense officials were present.

“We Israelis, descendants of Holocaust survivors, want to see Germany strong and prosperous, proud and leading in Europe and throughout the world. We deeply appreciate that Israeli systems are part of Germany’s renewed force build-up. Today’s handover marks only the beginning for Israel and Germany. Our cooperation will strengthen and deepen — whether in the air, on land, or in space.”

Our partnership is strategic, and Germany is Israel’s most important ally in Europe. Today, we mark another milestone in this relationship. Who could have imagined that only 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the Jewish state, through the technologies it develops, would help defend not only Germany but all of Europe. My family, who fled Germany on the eve of the Holocaust, could never have foreseen this,” Prosor said.