Netanyahu, Ex-Mossad Chief Among Officials Summoned to Testify in Submarine Affair Inquiry

Israel's state commission of inquiry into the so-called submarine affair has summoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and four other former senior officials to testify, according to a report by The Times of Israel. Those issued formal warning letters, a step that typically precedes findings of personal responsibility, include former Mossad director Yossi Cohen, former defense minister and IDF chief Moshe Yaalon, former navy commander Ram Rothberg and a former National Security Council official, Avner Simchoni. Current IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, navy chief Eyal Harel and former president Reuven Rivlin are also expected to appear as witnesses, though without warned status.

The inquiry, established in 2022 under then-prime minister Naftali Bennett, examines Israel's roughly $2 billion purchase of German-made submarines from Thyssenkrupp during Netanyahu's earlier terms in office, a deal at the center of the long-running corruption probe known as Case 3000 that produced indictments against several Netanyahu associates, though not Netanyahu himself.

In January, the commission found what it described as "systemic failings" in how the submarine purchase was handled, and separately concluded that Germany's approval, with Israeli sign-off under Netanyahu, of naval vessel sales to Egypt had compromised Israeli national security.

The upcoming testimony gives the warned officials a formal opportunity to respond before the commission assigns individual responsibility for the failings it identified, a process that could stretch well beyond the October 27 election.