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Tag: defense establishment

  • Germany Weighs New Path for $100B Jet Program Amid Dassault Dispute

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    This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

    Germany’s defense establishment is starting to lose patience. After years of friction with Dassault Aviation (DUAVF) over who gets to call the shots on Europe’s next-generation fighter jet, Berlin is now exploring ways to move ahead with the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) even if France pulls out. According to people familiar with recent conversations, German defense officials and lawmakers have opened quiet discussions with alternative partners, including Sweden and the UK, should Dassault continue pushing for what some see as an outsized leadership role. Dassault CEO Eric Trappier pushed back on claims of an 80% control demand, calling them a caricaturebut insisted the program needs a designated lead, a position he believes Dassault is best placed to fill, citing its Rafale track record.

    Talks between Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid added urgency to the situation. Both leaders reaffirmed the strategic importance of FCAS, but signaled diverging red lines: Merz wants progress as soon as possible, even if that means breaking the impasse, while Sanchez reiterated Spain’s preference for sticking with the original tripartite structure. Meanwhile, Airbus SE continues to resist Dassault’s leadership push, viewing it as incompatible with past agreements. The UK may be a long shot for FCAS collaboration, given its commitment to the competing GCAP program with BAE Systems and Leonardo. But political instability in France and Dassault’s increasingly firm stance could force Berlin to rethink the lineup entirely.

    German and French defense ministers have been tasked with proposing a realistic path forward by year-endbut whether they can bridge the rift remains an open question. If Dassault exits, FCAS could fracture, reshaping the power map of Europe’s defense sector at a time when industrial autonomy is becoming a priority. For investors tracking aerospace names like Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo, this evolving dynamic could introduce new opportunitiesor fresh execution risksas the race for Europe’s sixth-gen fighter splinters into multiple paths. Germany’s willingness to act without France may not be a bluffit could be the next phase.

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  • Battle over W. Bank Palestinian work permits heats up after Jerusalem terror attack

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    Defense Minister Israel Katz announced canceling 750 Palestinian work permits and demolishing homes after the Jerusalem attack, drawing pushback from security chiefs.

    A battle broke out within the defense establishment on Tuesday as Defense MinisterIsrael Katz announced the elimination of certain Palestinian work permits and the demolition of particular Palestinian residences in response to the terror attack in Jerusalem on Monday.

    More specifically, Katz said that he would cancel the work permits of 750 Palestinian workers from the villages of Qatannah and Al-Qubeibah, where the two terrorists who perpetrated Monday’s attack were from, and that he would order the demolition of Palestinian residences in those areas which had been built illegally.

    The defense minister’s statement generated significant confusion since he mentioned that he had the support of outgoing COGAT chief Maj.-Gen. Raasan Elian, but he did not mention the rest of the defense establishment.

    The Shin Bet and the two IDF commanders who have led the Central Command during the war, Maj.-Gen. Yehuda Fuchs and Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth, have pressed heavily for the government to restore the over 200,000 West Bank Palestinian work permits approved before the war started, and which the cabinet dropped to around 10,000.

    Although the political echelon said dropping the work permit numbers was necessary to avoid terrorists after October 7, there has been no evidence to date of any statistically significant number of terrorists from those who received work permits.

    Israeli security forces disperse Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron, August 31, 2025. (credit: WISAM HASHLAMOUN/FLASH90)

    In fact, the Shin Bet and the IDF are convinced that the cabinet’s decision to cancel work permits drove many normative persons to terrorism by denying them work opportunities and leaving them nothing to do with their time.

    There are no indications that the Shin Bet or IDF Central Command have changed their view after the Monday terror attack, and The Jerusalem Post understands that they are still in favor of increasing, rather than decreasing, work permits for West Bank Palestinians (vs for Gazans.)

    In contrast, the Post can confirm that Elian does support Katz’s policy change.

    While Elian also supports increasing work permits for West Bank Palestinians in general, he believes that a narrow targeted work permit penalty against villages that produce terrorists could be effective in deterring future terror from such villages.

    ‘Only a few bad apples’

    When pressed that such a policy could backfire in the villages that were generally peaceful, with only a few “bad apples,” that would view the collective punishment as unfair, Elian would say that some past targeted penalties had demonstrated the opposite, that normative villages understood they were only being penalized because of the isolated incidents.

    The penalty had led the villagers to increase pressure on extremist elements in their village against perpetrating terror, in order to have their work permits restored.

    Sources did not dismiss the possibility of the work permits being restored if the villages remained quiet, though there was no set timeline for doing so.

    The Post also understands that the announcement regarding destroying Palestinian residences was not coordinated with IDF legal authorities.

    In fact, it is unclear what legal authority the IDF has to destroy Palestinian residences in Area A or Area B of the West Bank under Palestinian control because they were built “illegally,” given that the PA decides what is legal and illegal building in those areas.

    Israel can demolish Palestinian residences built in Area C without approval or in areas under PA control if connected to specific terrorists and approved by Israeli legal authorities and the courts.

    But this would not apply to a general rule against Palestinians who had not committed terror.

    Katz did not specify where or how many residences might be demolished.

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