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Suspected Israeli-Iranian business dealings raise questions - People's Daily Online June 02, 2011
by Adam Gonn
The exposure by the U.S. State Department that the Ofer Brothers Group, controlled by one of Israel's richest families, has had business dealings with Iran continues raising questions in Israel.
The U.S. State Department announced that it was imposing sanction on the Ofer Brothers Group, a multi-billion-dollar holding company, and its Singapore-based subsidiary Tanker Pacific, for its role in the sale of an oil tanker worth 8.6 million U.S. dollars in September, 2010 to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
Israeli analysts speaking to Xinhua on Wednesday said the revelations certainly were a blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's argument that Iran is Israel's main enemy. However, no one was surprised that there were business dealings between the two nations via a third party, and if it was not for the U.S. announcement, the story wouldn't have surfaced.
POLITICAL IMPLICATION
Netanyahu has repeatedly called Iran an existential threat to Israel and accused Teheran of covertly developing nuclear weapons. The United States and the European Union have both placed sanctions on Iran due to what they claimed as an illegal nuclear weapons program, although Tehran denied the allegations, claiming that its nuclear program was for civilian and peaceful purpose.
While the sale of the tanker was the reason for the blacklisting, Israeli media has focused on 13 occasions that ships belonging to Tanker Pacific docked in Iranian ports, some as lately as in 2011, according the Calcalist business newspaper.
An initial statement by the Ofer Brothers implied that the business in Iran was undertaken with the blessing of the Israeli government, a claim the prime minister's office and the defense ministry quickly denied.
The intrigue surrounding the affair took another turn on Tuesday when a meeting in the Israeli Parliament's Economic Affairs Committee was abruptly ended when the chairman of the committee receiving a note and then ending that meeting.
Meir Litvak of Tel Aviv University believed that the dealings were problematic for Israel and what the Ofer Brothers have done is "terrible."
However, one needs to keep in mind that even though the owners of the company are Israelis, the shipping company is an international company with headquarters in London, he said.
The political outcome for Israel can be split into two aspects, according to Litvak, and Netanyahu can say he didn't know about the dealings and try to shift the blame on the Ofer Brothers.
The revelation that Netanyahu's newly appointed national security advisor Yaakov Amidror once worked for a company owned by the Ofer family won't have any affect either as he worked for another company, Litvak added.
However, Litvak said "it presents Israel as hypocritical. It either presents the Israeli government is not very honest, or exposes a certain weakness of the Israeli government that supervision of illegal activates is totally absent."
AMERICAN POLITICS?
Soli Shahver of the University of Haifa told Xinhua that he wasn't surprised to learn that Israeli companies have business dealings with Iran, saying that these global companies do have sub- companies and major transactions could happen simply because it's good business.
He added that he won't be surprised if there are American companies indirectly dealing with Iran, as the Ofer Brothers did.
The Americans raised the issue "to put pressure on Netanyahu," Shahver said, "they wanted to give a hint to the Israelis that if Israel doesn't come along with the United States in the Israeli- Arab conflicts, then 'we can release information that we have in order to weaken your position vis-a-vis Iran, which we know is very important to you.'"
Shahver claimed that it was reveled in such a way and at such a high level that it wasn't a clumsy thing done by a low level clerk. There are hundreds of companies probably, but they named them, he said.
During a recent visit by Netanyahu to Washington, the Israeli prime minister and U.S. President Barack Obama presented different opinions on what should be the baseline for the borders between Israel and a future independent Palestinian state, leading some speculations of a clash between the two.
COVERT INTENTIONS?
One of those who have commented on the affair in Israeli media is Meir Dagan, a former head of the Mossad. He called the media attention to the news as an "exaggeration," fueling speculation that the ships may have docked in Iran for more than simply business reasons.
The speculation was given some credit by Shahver. He said while the Israeli government is not likely to hire a ship by the Ofer Brothers Group to sail to Iran just to conduct espionage while in port, it's possible that the government knew the ship were en route to Iran and tried to place one or two agents onboard.
Quoting an American blogger as the source, the Israeli news site Ynet reported Wednesday that Mossad agents used one of the ships belonging to the Ofer family to escape from Dubai following the killing of a Hamas operative last year.
Source: Xinhua
by Adam Gonn
The exposure by the U.S. State Department that the Ofer Brothers Group, controlled by one of Israel's richest families, has had business dealings with Iran continues raising questions in Israel.
The U.S. State Department announced that it was imposing sanction on the Ofer Brothers Group, a multi-billion-dollar holding company, and its Singapore-based subsidiary Tanker Pacific, for its role in the sale of an oil tanker worth 8.6 million U.S. dollars in September, 2010 to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
Israeli analysts speaking to Xinhua on Wednesday said the revelations certainly were a blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's argument that Iran is Israel's main enemy. However, no one was surprised that there were business dealings between the two nations via a third party, and if it was not for the U.S. announcement, the story wouldn't have surfaced.
POLITICAL IMPLICATION
Netanyahu has repeatedly called Iran an existential threat to Israel and accused Teheran of covertly developing nuclear weapons. The United States and the European Union have both placed sanctions on Iran due to what they claimed as an illegal nuclear weapons program, although Tehran denied the allegations, claiming that its nuclear program was for civilian and peaceful purpose.
While the sale of the tanker was the reason for the blacklisting, Israeli media has focused on 13 occasions that ships belonging to Tanker Pacific docked in Iranian ports, some as lately as in 2011, according the Calcalist business newspaper.
An initial statement by the Ofer Brothers implied that the business in Iran was undertaken with the blessing of the Israeli government, a claim the prime minister's office and the defense ministry quickly denied.
The intrigue surrounding the affair took another turn on Tuesday when a meeting in the Israeli Parliament's Economic Affairs Committee was abruptly ended when the chairman of the committee receiving a note and then ending that meeting.
Meir Litvak of Tel Aviv University believed that the dealings were problematic for Israel and what the Ofer Brothers have done is "terrible."
However, one needs to keep in mind that even though the owners of the company are Israelis, the shipping company is an international company with headquarters in London, he said.
The political outcome for Israel can be split into two aspects, according to Litvak, and Netanyahu can say he didn't know about the dealings and try to shift the blame on the Ofer Brothers.
The revelation that Netanyahu's newly appointed national security advisor Yaakov Amidror once worked for a company owned by the Ofer family won't have any affect either as he worked for another company, Litvak added.
However, Litvak said "it presents Israel as hypocritical. It either presents the Israeli government is not very honest, or exposes a certain weakness of the Israeli government that supervision of illegal activates is totally absent."
AMERICAN POLITICS?
Soli Shahver of the University of Haifa told Xinhua that he wasn't surprised to learn that Israeli companies have business dealings with Iran, saying that these global companies do have sub- companies and major transactions could happen simply because it's good business.
He added that he won't be surprised if there are American companies indirectly dealing with Iran, as the Ofer Brothers did.
The Americans raised the issue "to put pressure on Netanyahu," Shahver said, "they wanted to give a hint to the Israelis that if Israel doesn't come along with the United States in the Israeli- Arab conflicts, then 'we can release information that we have in order to weaken your position vis-a-vis Iran, which we know is very important to you.'"
Shahver claimed that it was reveled in such a way and at such a high level that it wasn't a clumsy thing done by a low level clerk. There are hundreds of companies probably, but they named them, he said.
During a recent visit by Netanyahu to Washington, the Israeli prime minister and U.S. President Barack Obama presented different opinions on what should be the baseline for the borders between Israel and a future independent Palestinian state, leading some speculations of a clash between the two.
COVERT INTENTIONS?
One of those who have commented on the affair in Israeli media is Meir Dagan, a former head of the Mossad. He called the media attention to the news as an "exaggeration," fueling speculation that the ships may have docked in Iran for more than simply business reasons.
The speculation was given some credit by Shahver. He said while the Israeli government is not likely to hire a ship by the Ofer Brothers Group to sail to Iran just to conduct espionage while in port, it's possible that the government knew the ship were en route to Iran and tried to place one or two agents onboard.
Quoting an American blogger as the source, the Israeli news site Ynet reported Wednesday that Mossad agents used one of the ships belonging to the Ofer family to escape from Dubai following the killing of a Hamas operative last year.
Source: Xinhua
