German Town Bills Israel for Extracting Armed ‘Mossad Agents’

A farmer plows a field with a tractor on March 13, 2015 in Godewaersvelde, northern France
PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty

TEL AVIV – A German town is demanding 1,263 euros from Israel for extracting the vehicle of two “Israeli agents” – purportedly members of the Mossad, according to the town – who got stuck in the mud, Haaretz reported.

On Saturday, Germany’s NDR television station reported that the bizarre episode, which took place in December in the northern town of Quarnbek, involved two armed members supposedly of Mossad who were tasked with monitoring the transfer of a German submarine from the North Sea port of Kiel to Israel. The agents’ Ford Focus apparently became stuck in the mud on the banks of the Kiel Canal.

According to an elderly local resident, the two “agents” said that they were in the forbidden area to inspect it prior to a sailing competition.

Local police and firefighters arrived at the site, but it was a local farmer who succeeded in extracting the Ford from the mud with his tractor. The two Israelis apparently presented the local authorities with diplomatic documents that allow them to carry weapons.

The Germans have since submitted a bill to the Israeli Embassy in Berlin.

“The Mossad agents thanked the Germans and shook their hands before continuing on their way,” according to a report by the local police, who did not open an investigation.

Quarnbek’s mayor Klaus Langer is angry that the men were allowed to wander around with weapons. “Naturally, residents wanted to know how these two young men were allowed to travel there armed,” he said.

The authorities have so far stayed mum.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.