Israel

Corrosion Caused Deadly Helicopter Crash

Rare corrosion in a motor component was the cause of an otherwise mechanically sound helicopter falling into the sea earlier this year, the IDF said on Sunday following an investigation.

Two pilots, Lt. Col. Erez Sachyani and Maj. Chen Fogel, were killed when the AS565 Panther helicopter, known as an “Atalef,” crashed on January 3 into the Mediterranean Sea. A third officer on board, Cpt. Ron Birman, managed to jump out and was rescued with relatively minor injuries.

The investigation showed that the corrosion was located on a part well within the motor which is not part of the routine checks recommended by the manufacturer.

The IDF added that the malfunction was the first of its kind and not known to either the manufacturer or the IAF. It also said that the corrosion was likely due to the craft’s constant proximity to the sea and noted that the “rinsing process” which aims to prevent corrosion was “not optimal.”

In a statement, the IDF said, “This is due to a problem with the manufacturer’s design. Following this, the helicopter manufacturer will release safety information regarding the aluminum components in the engine.

“We emphasize that the crew was competent, skilled, and faced a sequence of challenging malfunctions … in complex flight conditions in the dark of night over the sea.”

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Greece Frees Israeli

A Greek court freed an Israeli man from jail on Tuesday after he was held for 14 days on what Israel claims is a mistaken Interpol warrant. Still, despite his freedom, the court ordered Dudi Ashkenazi to remain on Rhodes Island until a final decision is made on the matter.

Ashkenazi, 52, was vacationing in Greece when he was arrested two weeks ago on an Interpol warrant for a dual Israeli-Azerbaijani citizen also named Dudi Ashkenazi, who allegedly trafficked drugs between Peru and Russia in 2012. He was held on the Greek island of Kos until the court hearing that granted his partial release.

A salary slip from the same month Ashkenazi was said to have committed the crimes showed the innocent Ashkenazi was in Israel working as a driver for the Dan bus company. Regarding another incident, Ashkenazi was celebrating his child’s bar mitzvah at the same time that a crime was being committed.

Yair Lapid, at the time Israel’s foreign minister and since last week the prime minister, spoke with Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias last Wednesday and requested Ashkenazi’s immediate release.

Poland Envoy to Come to Israel

credence in the coming days, Polish leader Andrzej Duda told President Isaac Herzog on Monday, in the strongest indication yet that the two countries are moving beyond a bitter yearlong diplomatic spat.

Poland and Israel have been in a spat since last year. This initiative seems to be an indication that the two countries may be warming towards each other once again.

In July 2021, Poland’s legislature passed a law effectively cutting off any future restitution to the heirs of property seized by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In response to the legislation, signed into law by Duda, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called it “antisemitic and immoral.”

The following month, Israel recalled its envoy to Warsaw. Lapid advised Poland’s ambassador to Israel to remain on vacation in his homeland, and instructed Israel’s new ambassador to Poland, Ya’acov Livne, to remain in Israel.

Slowly, things are returning to normal. In February, Livne went back to Warsaw. Two Polish lawmakers visited the Knesset in June, the first to do so since 2017.

According to the president’s office, in this week’s phone call, “Both presidents expressed their hope that any future issues between Poland and Israel will be solved through sincere and open dialogue and in a spirit of mutual respect.”

Poland is part of the four-member Visegrad Group, a bastion of support for Israel within the European Union. The Poland-Israel group in Poland’s parliament is the largest such caucus in the legislature, with 127 out of 460 deputies in the group.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is driving the two countries back together, Polish MP Marek Rutka noted last month.

Still, disagreements remain. Last month, Israel canceled educational trips to Poland for thousands of high school students this summer, charging the Polish government is trying to control the Holocaust studies curriculum taught to Israeli children.

The Polish government wants formal rules to regulate the terms under which Israeli schoolchildren conduct Holocaust study visits to the country, including the presence of armed Israeli guards.