the timing of this article is no accident, in this time of heightened tensions. The article obviously got a very high security clearance and I wouldn't be surprised if it was "arranged" with this leading, veteran Israeli military journalist.

A close friend, a survivor of the Holocaust (he was a few years old in 45), frequently lambasts Germany's WW2 history, encouraging Israel to attack it. He cannot forgive and forget. Considering Germany's brutality against 11mJews, I cannot totally fault him. But life moves on. Germany is NOW our (Jewish) best friend. England is a friend..but has an arms embargo and creeping Islamic population. The US is fickle..playing both sides..giving Israel defensive weapons mostly..but maintaining its "edge" Israel's Samson Option (read Seymour Hersch), includes its delivery systems: 500 nuclear armed missiles, boats (Dolphins), and F15Is. It has an assortment of other systems for small yield nukes: suitcase bombs,etc. It has extensive WMD capability.with chemical/biological agents. All combined, its 1st, 2nd and 3rd strike capability is among the worlds finest. It NOW has 5 Dolphins...and is getting a 6th Some decry this..wanting money for other arms. The protestors want the budget reduced for cottage heese and other govt charity and price supports. It wants public housing (see NY for flipside guys). JST thinks Israel is at fault for the crisis. The riots today in Cairo, with the burning of the Jewish flag (sympolic), and harassment of employees ( if not danger), tells us something about security needed. wi/o which, the protest/Charedi communities in Israel are endangering the suvival of the county.Thank G-d for the military and those subs..that are protecting the gullible, naive and delusional Israelis, who will be fhe first to go if Israel is ever invaded.

Do you really think that anybody that may incur the wrath of an attack will be giving a toss if it was a soldier or a sailor that sent them a missile up their nightgown ?

The Israeli navy is part and parcel of the IDF--the Israel Army--as is the Israeli Air Force. Unified command and all. So, no, 'army' is not a catch-all word for all branches of service in Israel, but the only accurate word to use for army branches. And khayal/soldier is perfectly good Hebrew for infantry or navy. We are not the US or Britain. We do not need to follow your nomenclature, though we do have equivolency. The navy commander will wear a western vice-admiral's sleeve rank only when dealing with senior foreign naval officers, but in reality holds an army (IDF) rank one step below. Now, as to ONLY three subs (but soon enough to be 6), well, can you spell nuclear armed guided missiles with thousands of kilometer range?

In the israeli army context using the word "soldiers" is right. similarly and unlike in the USA the navy is not a separate branch as there is only one army (IDF) and everything comes under it. Looks like the translator did his job well and all the critics got it wrong

G-d Bless Israel.

Mr. Evangelical Christian - you are an insult to your own creed with your soda-jerk mentality and ignorant, pitiful Jew-baitng. Take your meds and sleep it off

Peter, naive a%s-hole, Please eat your Dobosz torte and go to sleep.

too much barack palinka?

You should consider renting out that vacant lot between your ears. I see the false message you are trying to plant in peoples minds. This is the type of message that would be sent from a cellar in Gaza by a terrorist who works in the Propoganda Platoon .

And Murat, #24, be afraid of this cheap military propaganda. Very afraid.

The 6th sub is for you, so you can finally get your sorry ass over here to see what you're talking about You wouldn't be allowed inside of the sub, the stench would be overpowering, we would lash you to the conning tower, in order than you breathe your last as the sub submerges

In Israel, they're all a part of the IDF You say ships have "Sailors", then tell us why some have "Marines", who consider themselves apart from the Navy, separate insignia, camps, training ?

Iron dome is for DEFENSIVE purpses, Subs are for OFFENSIVE Maybe Obama or someone can give a you a brain to understand the difference

Yes, it is annoying, any branch of the Israeli Military is part and parcel of the IDF, Other than the fact we use different equipment, we're all the same This isn't the American Navy, where even the Marines are considered to be a separate branch Your service at sea, sounds like you were the Capt. of the Head Concerning lack of Credit to Germany, that was acknowledge ages ago, too bad you weren't awake enough to have seen it

That's been common knowledge for years, nobody is denying where they were manufactured

Regardless of what the words may be, they end up as "Chayal" a soldier You can designate American military as you wish, we'll designate ours just as we want to Find something better to do, liek dredgin the Arthur Kill for scum like yourself

Subs are to be used as "Doomsday" weapons of last resort Any fool should realize that, it's a pity you didn't

The other two are spares, just in case It would ony take a special missile or two to end hostilities initiated by the enemy

I really DO NOT understand, WHY are you bringing the subject of Turkey in your comment, and an eventual future fight between the Israeli Navy, and the Turkish Navy. There is NOT A ONE SINGLE WORD in this whole article here about Turkey. The whole story is about the very advanced Israeli Dolphin submarines, for now 3 Diesel/Electric, very soon completed with another 3, even much more advanced, Hybrid-propulsion/Electric. These new 3 will be almost equal in their capabilities/capacities to the nuclear powered submarines. Because of your Talkback some Turks wrote here, with their hostile, and full of lies and total nonsense comments. You seem to me, "Alan White", NOT to be so much an "Evangelical Christian", but rather (and surely to 100%!), a paid propaganda-agent of the Turkish ruling Islamic Party, i.e. of Erdogan & Gul !!

You are correct about the Turkish armed forces (but not about apologizing). Throughout history, Turks have been known and feared for their fighting skill and ferocity. Israel will still win; but as is said; NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR ENEMY. If one reads details of the Yom Kippur War, especially of the heroic Israeli stand in the Golan, but also the Syrian breakthrough and unknown reason for them stopping their attack along the 'pipeline' road...the result of any war is not to be taken for granted.

Bravissimo, Yael - for an incisive, well written, literate article. What a refreshing change from the numbing mediocrity of these talk-backs Keep up the good work, Yosef Y, PHD

You'll notice, too, that the Israeli "Navy" uses Army ranks. "Lt.Col" instead of "Commander", and so on. This is just the way the IDF does things!

A report, 4 yearsago, submitted to USCongress, by a retired general, who appears on TV often, revealed that if Israel dukes it out with Syria/Iran, each using all its weapons, in 3 months one-half of the Arabs/Muslims, will be casualties. Israel's casualties, about 1m. That said, Egypt and Turkey know the results if they drop 1WMD on Tel Aviv and things get out of control. Israeli nukes are of the 1megaton tonnage..1 million tons of TNT. Laced with cobalt or lithium..the damage is specific..little to structures. Suitcase bombs ( nukes in a suitcase) left on downtown Damascu, Cairo or Istanbul..well, we know the damage. The Dolphins are used for retaliation purpose...not a 1st strike, which will be done by over 500 F15Is, F16Is and 200 F4Es now,F 2,000. Israel has those miniature drones..(see news) to search and destroy terrorist groups ( no nukes here), similar to US Preditors, but smaller. Israel has special laser protection around its vehicles..to avoid the Lebanese War disaster. Erdogan knows Israels capabilities..therefore is backing down from threats. Egypt's military knows...a few nukes near Cairo, Alexandria, the Aswan Dam..and Egypt is history...reveling in its pharoah past. Israel is smart to appease Egypt/Turkey somewhat.. High fences make good neighbors. (Nukes).But the Muslim Brotherhood looms in Egypt/Libya...and wants an alliance (military) with Turkey. Will they include Hez/Hamas/Islamic Ji9had however..which wants war with we Jews. BTW, who is paying for the protests I wonder, all those cops on the beat? The Charedi? The mothers with baby strollers? The Israeli bond holders..who give to the UJA or Israel bond? No money, no honey guys..( cottage cheese).. Those protest leaders should be arrested for treason.ASAP. No deals for their release. They, like the Jewish Committee (WW2) dont get it. They (leaders) will be the first interned by Hamas/Hez...and shot, and or raped first. This is not inflammatry rhetoric..it is the truth. Instead of protesting in NYC for Shalits release to the choir..send thousands to protest Hamasdefinance of the UN, Intl Law and the Red Cross. Now thats an accomplishment. Spread your tents on the border..and scream to Hamas, "Let Shalit go".

To Eli: In 1939, Germany invaded Russia ( after signing a treaty), and murdered thousands of "intellectuals, academics, Communists, and Yudah". Russia invaded from the East, and 20,000 Poles were killed in the Katrine Forrest, also academics, liberals, Polish military..but no Jews. Hamas/Hez/Islamic Jihad, Fatah, Al Qaeda. the Taliban, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Aska Mosque,all have the same designs..if Israel is ever invaded. Believe me, they already know the names of Israel's left and Arabs (potential 5th columnists). The flotilla leaders have given the names of the IDF navy who boarded the ships....for prosecution at the ICC. They violated the boycott, attacked the Jewish sailers, and now want them prosecuted. Go fiture. Im sure JST will applaud their antics..and Peace Now. After all, its all the fault of we Jews..a Zionist conspiracy, worldwide to subjugate the poor Pales. ( Read Six Days of War by Michael Oren for the truth). As my gentile friends say, "The truth shall set you free). Hey J Streerers, do you want Israel to, destroy its Dolphins as a sign of good faith?

those fish houses are going to do to help you when you become vapor on land what good you gonna get from heating the ocean think about it

During WW2 many military and civilian lives were lost because of power games and inter-branch rivalry in the US and in the UK. "Bomber" Harris refused to provide fighter cover to land operations, creating disaster for UK and ANZAC troops. In the case of the Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse, it was the other way around. The navy refused air coverage until it was too late. The IDF has missions, not bureaucratic branches, and all resources work towards saving Israel from its bigger enemies.

If you have such a low opinion of us Israelis then why do you even care about Israel? It's people like you that make ordinary Israelis grind their teeth whenever they meet an American Jew. Don't lecture us on how to run our lives and sort your own economy out and let us deal with ours!

Of course, there is a wise, common true: – Never Ever Underestimate Your Enemy – and I really DO believe, that IDF/IAF/IN branches have all learned their lessons, and that they now apply this basic, obvious rule to 100%!! Any future armed confrontation between Israeli Navy and Turkish Navy would be really a very bad-dream scenario, and both the NATO and the USA will do everything in their power to prevent it. However, IF it would happen, the results would be obvious and given. It really doesn’t matter here, that the Turkish Navy is much larger regarding the number of warships, and has much bigger units (as far as the tonnage is concerned), than the Israeli Navy. It is the “PUNCH”, which matters! Israeli Navy’s missile-boats, corvettes and frigates are now all equipped with the mixture of US Harpoon and IAI’s Gabriel Mk 5 ship-to-ship missiles, the brand-new IAI Gabriel Mk 5 being much more advanced of these two. Each missile boat can sink, or disable a number of much larger Turkish destroyers with these sea-to-sea long-range weapons. At the very same time ALL Israeli missile-boats are NOW equipped with Rafael’s Barak-1 point-defense anti-ship missile systems, i.e. are immune against any eventual Turkish Navy missile attacks. BUT: there is NO NEED at all for the Israeli missile boats & corvettes to do this job. IN’s Dolphin submarines can sink with their very advanced self-seeking torpedoes any approaching Turkish destroyer. AND, first of all: there is Israeli Air Force, with their F-15I and F-16I fighter-bombers, equipped with the air-launched long-range anti-ship missiles, like Harpoons, IAI’s Gabriel Mk 5 missiles, IMI’s Delilahs, Rafael’s PopEye, and Rafael’s very long-range, self-seeking heavy glide-bombs which will do the job, without even involving the Israeli Navy. So – let us hope, that this confrontation will NEVER take place!!