This month, Israel's National Security Agency will make recommendations to the government on foreign investments in Israel. Given the sensitivity of the issue, there is no minister in the Israeli government willing to speak on the subject. However, it is clear that the policy review and reports prepared by the IAEA focus on China.
Over the past decade, China has increased its economic and military investments and interests in the Middle East, including Israel. The Israeli government has long ignored China's actions, but lately it has begun to draw its attention. The Israeli National Security Agency has had to reconcile two contradictory policies, both of which are of great importance to the Israeli economy and its national security interests.
The first policy has been accepted by all sectors of the government for decades, namely the encouragement of foreign investments, the privatization of government properties and facilities, and the expansion of international markets for Israeli goods. In recent years, like many other exporters, Israeli companies have moved eastward to Asia, to develop economic systems there, and China in particular.
Investment in the Middle East
A recent survey conducted by the Israeli Intelligence Center indicated that Chinese investments in the Middle East rose by 1,700% between 2012 and 2017. The Chinese have invested about $ 700 billion in the region. Almost half of them are in the energy sector, 150 billion in research and development, 113 billion in industry, 103 billion in transport, 68 billion in military, 4 billion in financial loans and 155 billion in humanitarian aid.
From 1992 to 2017, China's bilateral trade with Israel grew from $ 50 million to $ 13.1 billion, making Israel Israel's largest trading partner in Asia and the third largest economic partner in the world after the European Union and the United States. In the first half of 2018, China's imports from Israel reached 2.77 billion, an increase of 47% over the same period of 2017.
The second policy is to defend national strategic assets and infrastructure from the possibility that they are under the control of foreign governments or acquired by foreign governments or companies, even if they are not hostile to Israel. Given its technologically advanced economy, Israel faces the delicate problem of foreign espionage and the theft of its sophisticated technologies. China and Russia have recently stepped up their espionage efforts in Israel, especially for state-owned or private-owned technology companies, through which US technologies are accessible.
China has targeted two of Israel's largest arms exporters, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael Armaments Industries and Elbit Systems. The government owns the first two companies, while the three companies have branches in the United States, which help to manufacture most of the sophisticated weapons in Israel, including missiles and advanced electronic equipment. Such designs and trade secrets have long been highly sought after by intelligence agencies and governments around the world.
Investigations carried out by Israeli anti-espionage agencies revealed that most of the Chinese piracy, via the Internet, was aimed at Israeli companies, which have ties with companies interested in defense industries in the United States. Israeli companies, including Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are collaborating on joint ventures, including F-15s, F-16s, and Arrow missile defense systems. China clearly sees Israel as the back door, through which it can reach, and penetrate the secrets of American programs.
Israel is a world power, when it comes to cyberwar, which is of great importance to Moscow and Beijing. If the two countries can steal highly sophisticated technologies, they can pose a threat to the United States and the Western world.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the two countries have two large embassies in Tel Aviv, which serve as centers for the development and care of their interests. Until recently, China was interested in buying a plot of land in a luxury neighborhood in Herzliya, to build its new embassy. It is very close to the Israeli intelligence headquarters known as the Mossad and the military intelligence service known as Unit 8200 in the Gliot area north of Tel Aviv.
In their attempt to penetrate defensive structures and steal security-related technologies, China and Russia have faced a tough, skillful and determined competitor, the Shin Bet security service, which specializes in counter-espionage and information protection.
But companies specializing in the technology industry, which can be used in the military and civilian fields, are less skeptical than protection. Over the years, successive Israeli governments have neglected the security risks posed by China. On the contrary, they have encouraged Chinese businessmen to invest in Israel and buy Israeli property.
Chinese invasion
Over the past 15 years, Chinese companies have invaded Israel and bought Tnuva, the largest dairy company in Israel, and won tenders for road construction and light rail in Tel Aviv. China has expressed its intention to buy insurance companies and Israeli banks to rent large tracts of land in the Negev desert to produce avocados and wheat, and to build a rail from Tel Aviv to Eilat. Chinese construction companies are now expanding the ports of Haifa and Ashdod, which receive most of Israel's imports.
In addition, the Chinese companies have been granted the privileges of operation and management of new ports, for 25 years. The two ports are also bases for the Israeli Navy, including the heavy naval infrastructure, which includes the fleet of Israeli submarines. It is said that the fleet of five submarines - preparing to receive the sixth next year from Germany - carrying missiles with nuclear warheads.
For several years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his deputy Minister of Transport and Intelligence, Ariel Katz, who is also foreign minister, have been encouraging the Chinese to enter the Israeli market, and they are proud of these achievements. Few officials tried to warn Netanyahu and his government, including Shin Beth leaders and former Mossad chief Efram Halve, about the Chinese threat, but these warnings were not taken seriously. Admiral Saul Chorev, who was an employee of the Ministry of Payment, did not care.
Fears
Admiral Shaul Chorev, who became head of the Haifa Center for Sea Policy and Strategy at Haifa University, expressed some concerns about the new Chinese neighbors of the submarine fleet base. "I admit that I was not sufficiently interested in the subject, because I was busy with other important issues, but now I'm wary of this problem, the Chinese," Chorev told Foreign Policy magazine.
But this Israeli neglect has been halted by external pressure. The US administration views China as its main rival and has shifted from the Middle East to Asia, the Pacific and the Korean Peninsula.
US President Donald Trump announced a trade war with China and tried to curb China's economic and military expansion. One of the biggest concerns of the United States is China's participation in the port of Haifa, which hosts successive visits to the Sixth Fleet, including aircraft carriers.
That is why the Chinese presence in Israel drew Washington's attention. The Trump administration asked Israel to reduce ties with China, as US national security adviser John Bolton asked for it directly. Israel does not want to humiliate or humiliate China, which is considered sensitive, in terms of its dignity, and certainly leads to retaliation. But Israel can not ignore a request, one of its most important strategic allies.
In the past, when it came to relations between the three countries, China was under pressure from Israel, because it had to comply with Washington's orders. Certainly, previous failures, especially in the ports issue, can not be repaired. As for contracts awarded to China, they could not be canceled.
Accordingly, the prospective report of the Israeli National Security Agency can focus on the future, seek a solution that satisfies Washington without insulting Beijing, and makes a few recommendations to the government that aspire to address economic needs without compromising the necessary strategic facilities, , Food, communications and money.
It is clear that if the report will lead to the enactment of new laws or regulations, it will employ a general language that avoids the mention of any particular State. All countries, foreign companies will be referred to, although everyone knows that the main goal will be Russia and China.
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