Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Marom, the former commander of the Israeli navy, has the reputation of being one of the most daring officers in the history of the Israel Defense Forces. On July 11, he earned another, more questionable honor. He is now the first major general to be interrogated by the police for serious crimes, including graft, and to be placed under house arrest. These actions are part of the police investigation of the German submarines purchased by Israel.
Just one day before Marom, who commanded the Israeli navy from 2007 to 2011, was interrogated, police detained the person closest to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attorney David Shimron, who was later placed under house arrest. They also detained Brig. Gen. Avriel Bar Yosef, Netanyahu's former appointee as head of the National Security Council, and businessman Miki Ganor, who negotiated Israel's acquisition of the submarines and other naval vessels from German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp.
Al-Monitor reported on the "Submarine Affair" several months ago. The current wave of arrests, which jolted Israel July 10-11, drew public attention to the scandal after a lengthy undercover investigation. The arrests in Israel came one week after Germany's National Security Council approved the naval deal between Israel and German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp, having been convinced that there was no graft on the German side of the deal. The move by the Israeli police was a slap in the face to the Germans, since the deal itself, valued at about $10 billion, now has a very serious question mark hanging over it.
A statement released by the State Attorney's Office in February said that the prime minister was not a suspect in the affair. Now it is obvious that he will have to be interrogated in order to get his version of the series of events and suspicions, as they are now being revealed. The entire episode has caused former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Knesset member Erel Margalit (Zionist Camp) to call it the biggest corruption scandal since the founding of the state. Ya'alon even took it a step further in an interview with CNN on July 11, saying that he is convinced that Netanyahu himself will also be indicted as a result of the affair.
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