The German flag. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The German government has proposed the sale of naval ships to Israel for the protection of the Jewish state’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Mediterranean Sea, an area that contains underwater gas reservoirs.

The Israeli Defense Ministry said Germany proposes to supply “defense ships through a German shipyard, and for a partial [financial] participation by the German government.”

“The offer is being examined by the relevant elements but no decision has been taken regarding this issue,” the ministry said in a statement.

If approved, the plan would help avoid a situation in which both Israel and Cyprus patrol aircrafts that must fly and monitor in the same airspace and transmit information to their own governments without coordinating with one another.

“Looking out from the rig, one sees only water all around. But that’s a deceptive view. It’s not an island. There’s a whole world [of defenses] around,” former Israeli Navy chief Adm. (res.) Eliezer Marom said in May, referring to multiple defenses that Israel has installed across the area.