Israel and NATO
conducted their first ever joint naval exercise in the Red Sea, signalling
a strengthening of relations.
One month after the first visit by a NATO Secretary
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to Israel on February 24, 2005, six ships
from the Standing NATO Response Force Mine Counter-Measures Group 2arrived
at the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat for a week-long visit, which included a joint exercise with the Israel
Navy.
The NATO force, led by the Italian Artigliere-class
frigate ITS Bersagliere and including German, Greek, Spanish and Turkish
minehunters as well as an Italian minesweeper, conducted a search-and-rescue
exercise with Israeli fast patrol boats. "We have conducted a very
basic joint search-and-rescue exercise, which is similar to the manueuvers
we conduct bi-annually with the U.S. and Turkish nav[ies]," said
Lt Col Yossi Shahaf, the Israeli Navy's Commander of the Red Sea Arena.
"The novelty in the exercise was the fact it was conducted with
NATO ships, which operate regularly in the Mediterranean, but rarely
visit the Red Sea.”