Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday tied Iran’s “threat to regional stability and regional security,” as he described it, to the signing of a new defense pact with Germany, including on cybersecurity.
“Iran and its proxies—Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis—threaten not only Israel but regional stability and international security,” Netanyahu said after signing a declaration of cooperation in Jerusalem alongside German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.
The declaration “anchors a robust cooperation with Germany in cybersecurity, the fight in terrorism and advanced technologies, and it is translated into a security commitment to joint action,” Netanyahu said at the signing ceremony.
Israel’s enemies, he added, “should know: We have eyes on them at all times and everywhere.”
Dobrindt said the declaration is rooted in “Germany’s deep commitment to Israel’s security” and brings the level of cooperation between the two countries to “a new strategic level.” It reflects “Germany’s historic responsibility, including strengthening the memory of the Holocaust and cooperating with Yad Vashem,” he added.
Netanyahu said he attaches “enormous importance to the overall cooperation between Israel and Germany, and especially Israel and Germany on this question of cybersecurity, which is one of the main threats to our internal security, and in many ways also our infrastructure and other threats.”
Germany and Israel “are natural partners,” he added, noting that “We’ve cooperated on the Arrow III, we’ve cooperated in many areas. We cooperate technologically.”
On Dec. 3, Israel handed over to Germany an operational Arrow 3 air-defense system, which is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere with exceptional long-range interception capabilities. It has made hundreds of successful interceptions since the outbreak of war between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran.
The event represented the first operational delivery under the landmark defense agreement signed on Sept. 28, 2023. At an estimated value of $3.5 billion, the deal was the largest of its kind in Israel’s history.
Germany is widely considered one of Israel’s staunchest advocates within the European Union. Other member states, including those with major economies such as France and Spain, have accused Israel of violating international law in the Gaza Strip and imposed various sanctions on the Jewish state, including a blanket weapons embargo and a ban by Spain on all Israeli products from Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
Several E.U. member states have said that Netanyahu would be arrested if he entered their jurisdiction, based on an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged genocide.
Netanyahu said that the new pact signed with Berlin “reflects how many countries, and major powers like Germany, and others you’re aware of, are coming closer [to Israel], seeking cooperation with us and to promote not only security-related issues but also economic ones.”
Israel, Netanyahu said, “is in an upward trend.”
