The members of the ministerial committee of inquiry investigating Case 3000, known as the Submarine Affair, resigned on Tuesday due to delays and limitations imposed by Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit. Committee head Amnon Straschnov, a former Tel Aviv District Court judge; Avraham Ben-Shushan, a former navy commander; and Yael Grill, a former Defense Ministry acquisitions director, resigned. Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on Mandelblit to complete the examination process and allow new members to be appointed. “In light of the great importance of the issue, I ask you to urgently complete the examination procedure and allow the work of the committee to begin, because it is an issue of paramount security, economic and public importance,” he wrote to Mandelblit. Straschnov wrote: “I have learned that in light of the criminal proceedings that are taking place at the same time, it is the opinion of the attorney-general to impose real restrictions on the work of the committee... In this situation, I am afraid that the committee is left with very limited powers.” The committee was formed by Gantz in November to investigate Netanyahu and his role in the case. It will not be able to force Netanyahu and his closest associates to testify unless the government approves it. It can only work inside the Defense Ministry and will have four months to draft its report. The Submarine Affair is an ongoing scandal involving a multibillion-dollar submarine deal with Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG conglomerate in 2016. Netanyahu has been accused of wrongdoing by various politicians, but he has been cleared by law enforcement. Mandelblit has alleged that senior officials were bribed to advocate for the purchase of unnecessary extra submarines and military boats from ThyssenKrupp. He concluded that there is no proof Netanyahu knew about the scheme and that, at most, he pushed for buying the vessels under suspicious circumstances. Yonah Jeremy Bob and Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.
