Subs are insurance against Islamic Republic, other enemies, Gallant says

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) on Sunday said that the country’s submarines are insurance for Israel against Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and other security threats.

Speaking on Mount Herzl in a memorial service for the 69-member Dakar submarine crew lost when the vessel sank disastrously in 1968, he said, “submarine crews today are continuing the same strategic mission of the Dakar crew. Much of the activity of the Shayetet 7 submarine units is kept classified from Israel’s citizens.

“We face a long list of threats – with the Iranian threat being at the forefront – which challenge us in both nearby areas and far off areas. The submarines are insurance for the State of Israel’s security, and they have a vital hand in confronting the threats surrounding us,” he said.

The defense minister continued, saying “the submarines act in unknown locations places… playing critical joint operational roles” with other arms of the IDF for many years.

According to foreign sources, Israel has submarines which can fire nuclear missiles, giving it a “second strike” capability for destroying any enemy who might think to try a surprise attack against Israel’s military centers on land.

This second strike capability provides a tremendous deterrent against any enemy force trying to strike Israel in any existentially damaging way.

Waxing poetic, Gallant said, “there are disasters which are engraved in the foundational walls of a nation. Incidents which transform into having eternal meaning in the painful side of a society’s story, our story. The journey which was never completed, the journey of the Dakar, was a national disaster of that level.”

IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Amir Baram said at the ceremony, “the Dakar warriors were daring… and devoted to the state.

“Their battles were concealed from the public, but they were ready to act against any threat near or far – even at the cost of their lives,” he said.

Further, Baram said, “in a time period in which the conflict with Iran is expanding into every arena and every maritime area in the Middle East, the IDF rests securely on its professional, creative, determined and mission-focused naval arm... with the same spirit which led the Dakar crew. The IDF Navy’s dominance has grown in recent years... and there are many complex operations day after day.”

Moreover, the IDF deputy chief said, his forces have “stopped Hezbollah’s smuggling of weapons into Lebanon which was designed to break the balance [of threats between the sides] attacks, as well as thwarting attempted terror attacks from Gaza’s maritime area” and far away actions to block the growing power of “Iran’s proxies in varying maritime areas.”

In addition, he said that the navy “guarantees the stability of the Israeli economy through maintaining the freedom of the seas and access to seaports.”

Referring to the navy securing Israel’s national security and providing some of its deterrence against the country’s enemies, he said “people are behind these phrases” like deterrence.