The Last Israelis - an Apocalyptic, Military Thriller about an Israeli Submarine and a Nuclear Iran (14 page)

Yes, there was still a peace treaty in place. But how long would that agreement survive the Egyptian revolution of 2011? A string of events in recent years had marked the deterioration of the Egypt-Israel relationship, and nobody could predict how much worse bilateral relations might get. Growing lawlessness in the Sinai peninsula had claimed eight Israeli lives and increased the terrorist threat against Israel’s southern border in late 2011. In 2012, Egypt revoked the natural gas deal that it had signed with Israel in 2005. The rise of Islamist political parties became official, culminating in the election of Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Muhammad Morsi. After Morsi’s election, a video from 2009 surfaced in which Morsi had urged his followers to “nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred” for Jews and Zionists, whom he had called “descendants of apes and pigs.” At the highest levels of power in Egypt, there was increasing talk of “renegotiating” or even canceling the country’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel. There were also hints of a desired rapprochement with Iran, as Egypt hosted an Iranian president for the first time since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Thus, it was certainly possible that Egypt might abruptly decide to deny passage to Israeli naval ships in need of a Suez Canal transit.

“After all, what is peace?” Daniel thought. “It’s just a promise. And like a promise, peace can be broken at any time.” But his gut told him that – as bad as a broken promise might be now – the real problems were waiting beyond the Suez Canal. “It must be some kind of bureaucratic mix-up,” he thought to himself. “These things can happen even between neighboring countries with the warmest of peaceful relations.” He further reassured himself by remembering that, while the Muslim Brotherhood was the new political force in Egypt, the somewhat chastened army was still arguably the most powerful player in the country. The Egyptian generals had no interest in antagonizing their northern neighbor when there was so much political instability and economic decline already plaguing their country. “There might be some delays to clear things up, but…It’ll be fine,” he thought.

Daniel turned on the intercom and addressed the crew: “We are going to follow Suez Canal regulations as if we had written them ourselves. I don’t want the slightest deviation from the rules.” All Daniel could do at that point was to eliminate any legitimate, rule-based denial of passage and pray for some good luck.

In strict accordance with all Suez Canal regulations, Daniel and his crew fastened the Dolphin to a berth in Port Said harbor, using the mandated mooring ropes and buoys, and keeping the submarine’s bright lights on, as required in order to avoid collisions with other watercraft. Daniel had with him all of the documents needed for passage, including the Suez Canal Special Tonnage Certificate and Calculation Sheets and a variety of declarations confirming compliance with various canal regulations.

At 4:40 a.m., the Suez Canal Harbor Master approached the Dolphin and ascended the ladder left for him, so that he could confirm compliance with canal regulations, and verify the vessel’s seaworthiness certificate. Then a pilot came on board and checked that the main engines, compasses, steering gear system, engine room, telegraph, rudder angle and RPM indicators, VHF and radar were all in good working order.

It was customary to give the Harbor Master and pilot a pack or two of cigarettes at the end of their duties; Daniel gave the Harbor Master a carton of 10 packs. “Thank you for your generosity, Captain. But the decision is not mine. Let’s see what the main office says.”

Ambesah established a radio connection with the main office. The Harbor Master reported in Arabic to his superiors that the submarine had complied with all regulations and that his colleague, the pilot, had confirmed that the vessel was in every respect ready to transit the canal once permission was granted.

The Harbor Master turned to Daniel. “The office supervisor would like to speak with you.”

Daniel spoke into the radio: “Yes, Sir.”

“Captain, we received all necessary payments. Now we are just waiting for certain approvals. We are doing our best to expedite the process because it’s now 0441 hours, and we cannot allow any vessels to join the 0700 convoy after 0500 hours, even with the additional fines paid. These are strict regulations.”

“I understand, Sir. Thank you for your help in getting the additional approvals as fast as you can, Sir.”

“You see, Captain, there are some very important officials involved in this approval.”

“All of your help here is much appreciated, Sir.”

As Daniel stood there, waiting for the clearance, he began to envision the various scenarios with which he might be faced if this hurdle was not cleared. Maybe they would have to stay berthed for a night or two at Port Said, waiting for the relevant powers to communicate with each other. Maybe more money would have to be paid. Or maybe all of the money already paid would be refunded because Egyptian policy had changed with respect to Israeli naval boats. Maybe this request by the Dolphin was the first opportunity that Egypt had to announce and enforce its new policy of military realignment towards Iran. What then? To travel from Port Said, where they were waiting, to Bandar Abbas, via the Suez Canal, involved a distance of about 5,185 kilometers, which meant roughly 24 days at sea. If, however, they were refused passage and had to take a route around west Africa and down to South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, the distance would be about four times as great. That circuitous route translated into an additional 71.5 days at sea in order to reach their target, without accounting for stops to replenish their fuel and food provisions in friendly ports.

None of the concerns associated with a Suez Canal crossing would have arisen had Israel maintained a regular submarine presence in Eilat, but the port there was used mainly for trading with East Asian countries. Israel’s submarine force was needed much more along the country’s Mediterranean Sea border to defend the densely populated coastal cities from a range of seaborne threats potentially originating in Lebanon, Syria, or Gaza. They were also needed to protect Israel’s exploration and development of natural gas in the state’s territorial waters and near Cyprus, where the two countries were cooperating with a Texas-based energy company to exploit the huge offshore gas reserves discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“Maybe with all of the changes in Egypt, it’s time for the Navy to modify the port in Eilat so that we can always keep some subs stationed there,” Daniel thought to himself, as he considered ways around the current impasse that his mission faced. “Then again, even the route from Eilat to Iran could be blocked by Egypt,” he reminded himself. Egyptian naval blockades of the Straits of Tiran, the narrow waterway allowing passage from Eilat to the Red Sea, were among the causes of two major Arab-Israeli conflicts in the past: the Sinai War and the Six-Day War.

“It’ll be fine,” Daniel kept telling himself, as he and his crew quietly watched the remaining minutes ticking away.

****

During the tense wait for official permission to transit the Egyptian canal, Zvi began to reflect on his own family roots in Egypt. He thought about the surreal idea that – if the Dolphin was allowed to pass – he would at some point traverse a part of the earth that his mother and her parents had crossed on their way to Israel, almost 60 years earlier. Zvi imagined for a moment standing on the mast, looking out over the nearby coast and watching his grandparents and his mother as a child, shuffling along with just a few possessions as they proceeded towards the new country and life ahead of them. He imagined waving to them, but they just slogged forward without seeing him. His mother had been born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1952. In 1956, the Egyptian government ordered her parents, along with about 25,000 other Egyptian Jews, to leave the country after signing declarations “donating” their property to the Egyptian government. They arrived in Israel penniless, with nothing but the clothes and memorabilia that they could pack into two suitcases.

Zvi’s thoughts then moved to his father, who was born in 1946 in Baghdad and had a similar story. Zvi’s paternal grandparents were harassed under a 1948 government law that made all Zionist activity illegal. All of their property was confiscated, and after almost being imprisoned, they escaped with their baby son to Israel to restart their lives from scratch. And so Zvi’s father, like his mother, grew up in a struggling family that had immigrated to Israel to escape the persecution of Jews in an Arab country. Zvi’s father would go on to serve as an IDF medic before becoming a physician specializing in emergency medicine. But as Zvi imagined the later years of his father’s life, the 22-year old submariner began to feel nauseous and didn’t want to revisit his last memories of him, when he was a senior emergency doctor at Rambam Hospital. It came from a chapter in his past that was too dark.

So Zvi quickly sent his mind back to his most recent happy family memory: the evanescent reunion they had just enjoyed on shore. He saw himself with his two older brothers and his blind, wheelchair-bound mother. He and his family were socializing with his best friend and fellow submariner, Jacob, the 22-year old Indian-Israeli who served as a sonar specialist. Jacob’s family was also present and, as always, felt like next of kin to Zvi. Unlike Zvi, who maintained a meticulous neatness, Jacob was by far the most disheveled of the crewmembers, with his dark hair often out of place and part of his shirt not tucked into his pants.

“How are you liking the helm?” Jacob’s father, a doctor at Rambam Hospital, asked Zvi.

“It…It’s great – almost like a video game at times. Ehh-except that in video games it’s no big deal if you crash. B…But on a submarine, you can’t even imagine what a crash is like.”

“Have you had some collisions?” Zvi’s mother asked with maternal concern.

“E…Even if we did, I…I couldn’t tell you,” Zvi replied with a smile.

“Do you guys get to enjoy each other’s company much on the submarine?” The doctor asked Zvi and his son.

“Dad, the sonar isn’t in the same section as the helm, but it’s all pretty close,” Jacob replied. “And we have plenty of time when we’re both off-duty and can hang out.”

“I’m so glad to hear that!” Zvi’s mother said.

Zvi’s mind returned to the present for a moment to see if there had been any progress with the much awaited transit approval. The time was 0449 hours and the crew was still quietly waiting to hear from the Egyptian authorities. Just 11 minutes left before they could no longer join the 0700 convoy. Rather than wait through those tense minutes with his eyes glued to the time, Zvi returned to the picnic. He remembered how entertained everyone had been by Jacob’s 21-year old brother, who was visiting Israel briefly after the first of several planned backpacking trips.

Like so many other Israelis fresh out of the army, Jacob’s brother had decided to go traveling abroad after working at odd jobs to finance his trips. He had just come back from six months in Latin America and could now speak enough Spanish to order a meal or flirt with a local. With his loose-fitting bohemian clothes and his hair grown out into long dreadlocks, he colorfully and unabashedly stood out at the picnic, to everyone’s substantial amusement.

“I still can’t believe you became Bob Marley in half a year!” Jacob joked.

“It’s not as hard as you think,” his brother replied with a chuckle. “It’ll probably be a lot harder to reverse it!”

“I’m just really happy that your three-week stop in Israel overlapped with our quick shore visit.”

“I know. That’s pretty lucky timing because I might not be back for another four or five months.”

“Maybe you should go to India next,” Jacob said. “You’ll fit right in with all of the Israeli hippies partying in Goa.”

“Except that they’ll think I’m a local trying to be like an Israeli tourist or something!”

“Ha. Good point. So where are you going next?”

“I’m thinking Thailand. I want to check out Koh Phangan.”

“You mean you want to go to the Full Moon party there,” Jacob said, teasing his brother, who released a slightly guilty smile.

“Maybe. I know – not very original for a post-army trip.”

“I think Jacob’s right,” their father opined. “You should try to go to India. You still have family there and you should meet them. I’m sure they would be delighted to host you.”

“It’s hard to argue with free room and board but…we’ll see,” he replied, in a tone that suggested India probably wasn’t going to make it onto his itinerary.

****

Zvi looked at the time. 0454 hours. The crew was six minutes away from being denied passage in the 0700 convoy. More stress. Better to let his mind wander some more, he thought. But knowing there would soon be a decision from the Egyptian authorities that would end his mental excursions, Zvi’s thoughts moved to the goodbyes at the picnic.

****

Zvi put his arms around his older brothers and lowered his voice so that only they could hear. “Th…Thanks for taking care of Mom. I…I’m really sorry that I’m not around more to help, b…but she looks like she’s…She’s doing all right.”

“Yeah, she’s hanging in there…Don’t worry about anything, Zvi,” his eldest brother replied in a soft voice. “Just keep making us proud.”

“I…I love you guys.” Zvi hugged each of his older brothers. Then he crouched down by his mother’s wheelchair so that they could exchange goodbyes.

“I…I have to get going, Mom.”

“Oh, is it time already? I feel like we just got here.”

“I…I know, Mom. I…I’m sorry it was so short.”

“Be careful in that sub, Zvi. I don’t want to hear about any collisions.”

“Like…Like I said, even if we have them, y…you won’t hear about them,” he replied with a smile.

“Well, don’t have them, and then I won’t have to wonder about whether you’re having them and not telling me.” Zvi laughed.

“OK, Mom. No…No collisions. I promise.”

“The three of you are all I have now.”

“I…I know, Mom. It…It’ll be fine.” Zvi got up from his squat and bent over his mother’s wheelchair to give her a kiss. “I love you, Mom.”