Right, so Volkswagen had a problem.

Its Osnabrück plant was running out of road, car production was winding down, thousands of jobs were hanging in the balance, and somebody somewhere clearly thought: well, if we can’t sell enough cars, perhaps we can start building bits for Israel’s missile systems instead.

Enter Rafael.

Israeli government-owned. Iron Dome manufacturer. Very keen on a German factory, German machinery and a ready-made workforce.

Cars out. Launchers, transporters and power equipment in.

A wonderfully neat little arrangement, provided you don’t look at it for more than six seconds.

Germany gets another chunk of industry pushed towards weapons for an Israeli state owned arms manufacturer. Volkswagen gets to call it a rescue plan. Rafael gets a foothold inside one of Europe’s biggest manufacturing  ...