soc.veterans

On Apr 8, 11:05=A0am, "peace.seeker.27"
wrote:
> Israel's Tehran connection
> Richard Silverstein
> April 4, 2008 12:00 PM
>
> http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_silverstein/2008/04/israe...
>
> If you've ever wondered about the definition of hypocrisy you'll find
> the answer right here.
>
> Last month the Swiss foreign minister visited Iran and, together with
> President Ahmadinejad, attended the signing of a multi-billion euro
> contract for Iran to supply Switzerland with large amounts of natural
> gas over the next 25 years.
>
> The US State Department immediately condemned the deal and said it
> would be investigating whether it breached the Iran Sanctions Act.
> Israel complained too, describing the Swiss minister's visit to Tehran
> as an "act unfriendly to Israel". Various Jewish groups also joined in
> the protests, including the World Jewish Congress.
>
> This righteous indignation was entirely predictable but more than a
> little odd nevertheless. On March 30, the Swiss newspaper Sonntag
> retaliated with the revelation that Israel, supposedly observing an
> ironclad boycott of all things Iranian, has been buying Iranian oil
> for years.
>
> The story is in German but Israeli journalist Shraga Elam has provided
> me with a translation which I'll quote from here.
>
> "Israel imports Iranian oil on a large scale even though contacts with
> Iran and purchasing of its products are officially boycotted by
> Israel. Israel gets around the boycott by having the oil delivered via
> Europe. A reliable Israeli energy newsletter, EnergiaNews, reported
> this last week [March 18] ...
>
> "EnergiaNews got the information about the Iran trade from sources
> with ties to the management of Israeli Oil Refineries Ltd ...
> According to EnergiaNews the Iranian oil is liked in Israel because
> its quality is better than other crude oils.
>
> "The report by EnergiaNews editor Moshe Shalev states that the Iranian
> oil reaches various European ports, mainly in Rotterdam. It is bought
> by Israelis and the necessary European bill of lading and insurance
> papers are supplied. Then it is transported to Haifa in Israel. The
> importer is the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Co (EAPC), which keeps its oil
> sources secret."
>
> EAPC was established in 1968 as a joint Israeli-Iranian company to
> transport oil from Iran to Europe. After the fall of the Shah, Iran
> ceased to play an active role in its affairs and there are ongoing
> legal disputes between the two partners.
>
> The Swiss report continued:
>
> "It is not clear if the Iranian exporters know about Israeli purchases
> of their oil. At the other end, the Israeli buyers and governmental
> offices are well aware of where the high-grade oil comes from,
> although it is a blatant defiance of the boycott. The EnergiaNews
> article even made it through Israeli censorship, which asked only for
> some changes in the text. The fact that the report cleared the censors
> increases the credibility of the information. In the past, such
> reports were forbidden.
>
> "When questioned by Sonntag, an energy expert of one of the leading
> Israeli papers confirmed the EnergiaNews report: Israel has been
> importing Iranian oil for many years. The expert stressed, however,
> that the purchases were made on the free market and not directly from
> Iran."
>
> Sonntag quoted a spokesman for Oil Refineries Ltd as denying that his
> company imports and processes Iranian oil. However, Sonntag pointed to
> a report in Haaretz newspaper last October which said that an Israeli
> energy company called Paz would be refining Iranian oil and supplying
> it to the Palestinian Authority from the start of this year.
>
> This begs the question: if Iran is, as Bibi Netanyahu argues, an
> existential threat to Israel, why does the government allow such
> trade? Would Israel have the US attack Iran's nuclear programme and
> provoke a potential region-wide conflict while it cannot seem to wean
> itself from high quality Iranian crude? You'd think if Israelis are
> cowering in fear from an Iranian bomb and the arch antisemite
> Ahmadinejad, they wouldn't want to trade with such an enemy.
>
> When is a boycott not a boycott? When it's in your naked economic
> interest to circumvent it, apparently. But one should ask: if Israel
> doesn't honour its self-declared boycott of Iran, why should the rest
> of the world honour its boycott of Hamas and Gaza? If Israel doesn't
> honour its own boycott, then why should members of Congress vote with
> AIPAC when it proposes a measure that even Israel honours only in the
> breach?
>
> It's interesting to note from a discussion (in Hebrew) on the Kedma
> website that Israel does not formally define Iran as an "enemy nation"
> and therefore in a strictly legal sense such trade is permissible.
> Ironically, Iran too has a boycott against Israel in place and is
> violating its own measures in that regard. Furthermore, the same
> commenter notes that Israel last week dismissed attempts to engage
> Syria in a diplomatic process as a failure because Syria refuses to
> renounce its ties with Iran. Do I hear the word "hypocrisy"?

Are you surprised?

alex