AN ISRAELI parliamentary committee will begin an investigation today into how a local shipping company, blacklisted last week by the US State Department, managed to trade with Iran in possible breach of Israeli law and international sanctions.
According to the international shipping database Equasis, at least 13 ships owned by Israel's Ofer Group — owned by the colourful brothers Sammy and Yuli Ofer — have anchored at Iranian ports in the past 10 years.
Equasis also indicates the group sold an oil tanker, the Raffles Park, to Iran's national company, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
In the past decade, Israel has led an international call for countries and businesses to boycott Iran because of its nuclear weapons program that could pose a threat to Israel. The Ofer brothers have stated that business with Iran was open, and was even conducted with the specific permission of the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — a claim denied by his office.
Sources close to the Ofers quoted in the Israeli media say that in the spirit of breaking down barriers between countries, their tankers occasionally frequented Iranian ports and carried crude oil. Today's parliamentary hearings will be attended by representatives of Israel's Defence Ministry, Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office and the National Security Council. The committee is expected to deliver an initial report next week on whether any laws were broken.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem law professor Yuval Shany told Haaretz it was not clear whether the Ofer Group had violated Israeli law. "There is a ban in Israeli law on trade with the enemy, but it's not clear what is included in the ban and whether it includes, for example, services," he said. "US laws are much tougher than those of Israel, and they address activities of this sort."
Official sources in Iran have issued vigorous denials of economic ties of any kind with the Ofer brothers or with any other "Zionist" company. "The Zionist companies are one of the causes for the sanctions against us," said Mohammad Nahavandian, chairman of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines.
Israeli company: We were just helping these guys become our friends by making us a niece profit. Peace, guys.
Iran: We totally have no dealings with a Zionist company that just visited our ports that many times. Zionists are the enemy.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
I wonder how many other Israeli companies are doing business with Iran? The article indicates it was all pretty open.
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi
"Problem is, while the Germans have had many mea culpas and quite painfully dealt with their history, the South is still hellbent on painting themselves as the real victims. It gives them a special place in the history of assholes" - Covenant
"Over three million died fighting for the emperor, but when the war was over he pretended it was not his responsibility. What kind of man does that?'' - Saburo Sakai
Come to think of it, I heard from one of my economics professors that the Arabs often did their trading with Israel through places like Cyprus and Turkey. Though in this case the Ofers decide to cut out the middle man (maybe they don't like kebabs and baklavas?).
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
bobalot wrote:I wonder how many other Israeli companies are doing business with Iran? The article indicates it was all pretty open.
Could it be that it could be so open because it was such an incredulous action? "No Israeli would do that, so why should we even bother checking" seems a plausible factor here.
SoS:NBAGALE Force "Destiny and fate are for those too weak to forge their own futures. Where we are 'supposed' to be is irrelevent." - Sir Nitram
"The world owes you nothing but painful lessons" - CaptainChewbacca
"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - Wilhelm Stekel
"In 1969 it was easier to send a man to the Moon than to have the public accept a homosexual" - Broomstick Divine Administration - of Gods and Bureaucracy (Worm/Exalted)
Israeli politicians are highly corrupt as well, so they might just as well have paid people off.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
Er...Thanas? I'm certainly seeing embargo-breaking...but weapons? Not so much. Your thread title seems a bit of a non-sequitor.
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
White Haven wrote:Er...Thanas? I'm certainly seeing embargo-breaking...but weapons? Not so much. Your thread title seems a bit of a non-sequitor.
Yeah, noted. It is part of the embargo against Iran's weapons of mass destruction, so my mind got the two mixed up. Sorry about that, title has been changed.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
