An Israeli military police officer stands next to rockets seized by Israeli authorities on a ship near Cyprus, and presented in the port of the Israeli city of Ashdod, Wednesday.
(Tsafrir Abayov/AP)Photos (1 of 1)
Israel says weapons shipment a war crime, Iran and Syria cry foul
Israel's Netanyahu said Thursday a large arms shipment seized this week was sent by Iran to Syria and Hezbollah, and charged this was a 'war crime.'
By Dan Murphy | Staff writer 11.05.09
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a large Iranian weapons shipment that Israel seized on Wednesday – and alleges was destined for Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon – constituted a “war crime.” He said the United Nations Security Council should convene a special session to discuss the issue.
“The bulk of the shipment included rockets whose aim is to hurt our citizens and kill as many civilians as possible,” Prime Minister Netanyahu charged in a press conference. Iran and Syria said there was no weapons shipment, and Hezbollah said whatever the cargo, it was not intended for them.
Israel seized the German-owned freighter Francorp in international waters near Cyprus after it had departed Iran, transited the Suez Canal, and made a brief stop in Egypt. The Israeli navy said it found 500 tons of Katyusha rockets, mortars, bullets, and grenades in containers belonging to an Iranian shipping line, and said the ship’s manifest indicated the cargo was destined for Syria. Both Iran and Syria have supplied arms to Hezbollah in the past.
UN Security Council Resolution 1747 does forbid Iran from selling arms: “Iran shall not supply, sell, or transfer directly or indirectly
from its territory or by its nationals or using its flag vessels or aircraft any arms or related materiel, and that all States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals.”
But Israel offered no proof for its contention that their ultimate destination was the hands of Hezbollah, which fought a brief war against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon in 2006. That war ended with a cease-fire monitored by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is charged with interdicting arms shipments in Lebanese territorial waters and inside the country. A UNIFIL spokesman said the group considered the charge the weapons were destined for Hezbollah as yet “unproven.”
Israel has, on a number of occasions in the past few years, hinted that it would be willing to unilaterally attack Iran’s nuclear sites if it grows convinced that Tehran’s nuclear program cannot be curtailed by other means. Iran, which has only a small number of missiles with sufficient range to strike out at Israel, has cultivated ties with Hezbollah – fellow Shiites – in the past decade, and security analysts say it sees the threat the militant group poses to northern Israel as part of its deterrent against an Israeli attack.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the “Foreign Ministry issued a document to Israeli embassies and consulates around the world on Wednesday, instructing diplomats to utilize Israel’s seizure of the ship to direct international pressure toward Iran.”
Netanyahu made clear in his comments on Thursday that Israel wants the focus to be on Iran, which has been threatened with new sanctions by President Barack Obama if progress isn’t made in curtailing the growth of its nuclear program by the end of the year. Israel alleges Iran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb, something which it argues would pose an existential threat.
“This is a war crime which Iran intends to commit again in the future,” Netanyahu told reporters at army headquarters. “The international community should be focusing on this, but instead, the world condemns Israel and the Israel Defense Forces and undermines our right to self defense.”
Netanyahu was referring to the Goldstone report, which was debated at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. That investigation of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza strip last year found that both Israel and Hamas were probably guilty of war crimes in the conflict, which claimed the lives of 13 Israelis and more than 1,400 Palestinians. Israel has angrily rejected charges of war crimes and refused to participate in the investigation, preventing the Jewish South African jurist Goldstone and his team from conducting work in Israel or the occupied West Bank.
The largest rockets reported seized from the Francorp shipment were 122-millimeter Katyushas, which have a range of about 20 miles. What impact the shipment, even if intended for Hezbollah, would have on the security situation is unclear, since Israeli President Shimon Peres alleged in August that Hezbollah had rebuilt its stockpile, following its 2006 war with Israel, to include 80,000 rockets – more than it had at the time of the conflict. During that conflict, 44 Israeli civilians were killed by Hezbollah rocket fire in northern Israel. Lebanon said that about 1,100 of its civilians died in the conflict.
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3. Typical Israel… | 11.05.09
I’m not saying that Iran should or shouldn’t be supplying weapons to Hezbollah. But if Israel is going to get its panties in a twist and go crying to the UN about Resolution 1747, then perhaps the UN should be enforcing all of its other resolutions that never got put into practice as well. Like Resolutions 242 and 194 to let the Palestinians have their land back and a neutral Jerusalem, but I don’t Israel trying to implement those laws…Don’t go whining to the UN about Arab countries not following resolutions that pertain to them when you don’t follow your own. Hypocrites…
4. Nabeel | 11.05.09
‘which claimed the lives of 13 Israelis and more than 1,400 Palestinians’
Hmmm…I don’t know if I see anything wrong with this situation above. War crimes, of course not, especially not by the Israelis.
6. BBSNews | 11.05.09
It’s amazing that this weapons haul happened on the day that the UN was considering the Goldstone Report, and that it could be inspected, off-loaded, photo-opped, and then sent on its way with an innocent crew all on the same day within a few hours.
And yet the Spirit of Humanity, the little boat that attempted to sail to Gaza to bring humanitarian aid was detained in the same Israeli port for days, as were some of its crew and passengers before being deported, and the little boat was completely searched with a fine-toothed comb for any evidence of contraband.
It truly is amazing how convenient it all is, the timing, the efficiency of knowing already where all the munitions were, and the subsequent release, on the same day within a few hours, of the ship and its crew with the rest of its cargo.
Hmmm…
7. WB | 11.05.09
Iran was not shipping weapons to the Lebanese government. They were shipping weapons to a paramilitary guerilla group / terrorist organization, Hezbollah. A group whose charter says they owe their ultimate allegiance to Iran’s ayatollah. A group who murdered a President of Lebanon. This not only undermines the Jewish state of Israel, but it also undermines an Arab state, Lebanon. Not surprising from a country who hosts a holocaust deniers summit and brutally cracks down on their own people for protesting a sham election.
8. ranter22 | 11.05.09
The seizing of a ship in International waters is a war crime too. Israel doesn’t even belong to the NPT treaty and still, wont sign on to any other agreements.Yet it has over 200 nukes, Uranium enrichment and refining sites, all from uncle Sam.
9. MSM | 11.05.09
Given the ineptitude of the international community charged with “keeping the peace”, Israeli intervention is is necessary not simply deesireable. Terrorist groups suchas Hezbollah or Hamas under stand only one thing, domination by power. When Israel take upon itself the job of protecting itself from these criminal elements, they call foul. Foul it is that the “brotherhood of nations” have not the interest to execute the resolutions upon which they have enacted. More power to the Israelis for protecting themselves and pooey on you neighsayers for criticizing them!!!
10. r ab gem | 11.05.09
Instead of shipping them back to syria, I think Israel should let those arms fly back to Hamas and hizbulla areas
11. ranter22 | 11.05.09
In addition to my other comment, I would have to say that;In our society and within our time of dangerous existence, one does not just deny a charge made against oneself. One has to, first, deny it, demand proof and file a counter charge, If wrongly accused. That is up to Iran to do.
14. John in Texas | 11.05.09
hey bostonian,
re: “what about Israel’s worst kept secret; their nuclear weapons?”
israeli citizens wake up every morning with 10 million neighbors that want to exterminate them by lunchtime. they better have nukes, tanks, jet fighters etc. gassed up and ready. if they didn’t arm themselves to the maximum, they would not exist very long.
i’ll bet they interdict 10 times more arms shipments than we ever read about. thank god.
15. GetReal | 11.05.09
Wat,
criticism of hugely disproportionate Israeli force against trapped Palestinians & Lebanese, Israeli force that is almost exclusively provided by unwitting American taxpayers, is NOT Nazism, or even anti Semitic for that matter. The real issue is fairness and avoiding a double standard in which the have nots are automatically guilty.
16. Esther Haman | 11.05.09
Isn’t this an act of piracy at sea?? Isn’t this a crime under the international law?! The most armed state in the Middle East the “Zionist state” is complaining about others wanting to defend themselves against its aggression! Isn’t that refreshing! The people who just committed atrocities in Gaza and are condemned by it with the “Goldstone” report form UN is saying others should not have the right to defend themselves and they should be subjected to the same threat of massacres?! If this is not plutocracy what is?? The thieves and murderers of the Middle East (the Zionists State) should be worried, because of their own action, what goes around comes around.
17. crazychester | 11.05.09
You can do whatever you please in this world when you’ve got the neighborhood bully on your side. Israel routinely avoids the U.N. when it sees fit and then brings up the resolutions when it would like to point out another nation’s violations. Luckily for them, they can and often do hide behind the U.N. veto power of the U.S.
18. European | 11.05.09
Hm why is ‘Isreal’ whining about war crimes that still have to happen while they’r being acused of having commited war-crimes?
In my opinion Israel AND Hezbollah etc.. should ALL be laid under strict UN sanctions since both sides have done some disgusting things to humanity while one side should know it feels to be massacred.
(im srr for the bad English)
19. Typical Israel… | 11.05.09
John in Texas,
Israel wouldn’t need to defend itself so heavily if they would just work with the Palestinians and give the 4 million Palestinian refugees the right of return to their homes instead of building more and more settlements and create more anger. “GetReal” is right, it’s about being fair and right now Israelis have a country that was NOT fairly given to them which is why their “10 million neighbors” want to kill them everyday. And the US is DEFINITELY not helping the situation by giving them ridiculous amounts of weaponry, as well as billions of dollars every year without conditions.
20. stevenyc | 11.05.09
killing innocent women and children is a war crime.supplying guns to protect yourself is not
21. Shelley | 11.05.09
As to having the Palestinians get thir homes back from which they fled, sixty years ago, how about building exact duplicates of these homes on ARAB LAND,which amply exists, thereby relieving the Palestinians of their nostalgia, while protecting the demographics of Israel. Even provide locks that fit the keys that they have been hanging onto all these years! Why haven’t the Arabs absorbed the Palestinians into their countries, like Israel did to the Jews that had to flee the Arab lands sixty years ago?
22. David Reinertson | 11.05.09
Our contribution to this idiotic war has been mainly to give hundreds of billions of dollars each year to the kings and dictators who control the oil and real estate of the Middle East. On this point Islamic radicals and I agree.
However, I don’t think these rockets are intended to protect people in Lebanon, nor to set the Lebanese free. They are intended to continue this war, to keep Israeli and Lebanese workers fighting while the royals delay the Enlightenment for another century.
23. Cherlise | 11.05.09
I think we should entirely and forcefully evacuate the people of say, the State of New York. Put them all on Manhattan Island and not allow them to travel. Then we should extremely limit things like food, energy, fresh water, concrete and such from being imported into Manhattan Island because heck, they might use such to take back New York state. Then let’s start sending in people from Georgia and Texas to build new towns and take over the old houses in New York State. If the Manhattannite refugees start protesting, we should carpet-bomb them.
That’s about how the Israeli government treats its “non-human” citizens. They’d really rather they all die off. I’m surprised the Israeli’s haven’t set off any biological agents in the West Bank as yet.
25. lemon | 11.05.09
Don’t I remember the Palestinian State being very large on my old map? Israel can’t be the only country that occupies it. Were is all the talk of all the other countries giving back to Palestine. What government did the UN displace when they created the “Zionist State”? This is just prove that Mankind can’t rule themselves, and the world is full of false religion. Everyone want’s to go to war for their own religous view. A true god should be able to handle whatever he needs done on his own without help from citizens of a government.
26. Mike | 11.05.09
How about smuggling the weapons into Iran and putting them into the hands of the opposition groups?
27. Sense | 11.05.09
Iran is putting lots of heavy weapons into the hands of non-governmental groups. That is bad for everyone. Look at Africa. The Soviet Union loaded that continent up with weaponry and the innocent people there are still paying the price. Iran is fighting a war with proxies and everyone suffers. In the end, thugs with guns is bad. Bad for the Lebanese, bad for the Palestinians and bad for every country in the area as warlords, opposition groups etc. use weapons for what they designed for — to intimidate and kill people.
28. BBSNews | 11.05.09
Shelley,
That is ethnic cleansing. In fact, it is piling on another episode of ethnic cleansing onto the original ethnic cleansing that led to the refugees in the first place.
I wonder how you got such a gap in your knowledge?
The Palestinians have land, they have a legitimate right to see Israel pull it’s illegal colonists from that land, and for once and for all end the drive to steal more land and resources from the Palestinians.
Why do you think you have rights, Israel has rights, but innocent and illegally occupied Palestinians have no rights and are nothing but chattel that you can shift around from country to country as if they are owned by someone?
Who owns the Palestinians Shelley?
29. jj | 11.05.09
the gangster zionist regime is at it’s old tricks again. making up fables to deflects from it’s REAL war crimes it’s been committing agianst palestinians.
30. dan | 11.05.09
israel will give up all settlements, evacuate all of the west bank and gaza, and remove jews from west bank and east jerusalem, as well as recognizing the west bank and gaza as a palestinian state; in return for the palestinians declaring an end to the conflict, recognizing israel in the 1967 borders as a jewish state, and recognizing that palestinian refugees cannot return to israel in the 1967 borders. any takers?
31. Proud American | 11.05.09
Iran is a cowardly nation that dare not attack Israel directly. They put weapons in the hands of other cowards who run and hide behind thier mother’s apron’s after they fire a rocket into civilian areas or plant bombs on buses. The Palestinian’s are pawns of the powerful to distract the Muslim world from it’s own corruption and failures. Israel want nothing but to live in peace and short of peace to defend it’s citizens. Throughout history the Jews have been made scapegoats for the corruption of the greedy and incompetent. Anti-Israeli vitrole is just a sign of ignorance. Iran is an accomplice to terror, murder and poverty in the Muslim world. Anyone who believes terrorism is justified is morally corrupt.
32. SAM | 11.05.09
ITS AMAZING THAT FEW PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THERE IS NO LAND IN ISRAEL THAT BELONGS TO THE PALESTINIANS,THE LAND HAS BEEN OCUPIED BY JEWS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE THERE WERE DRIVEN OUT BY THE ROMANS AND THE ARABS ALL THE JEWS HAVE DONE IS RECLAIM THEIR LAND AND HAS VERY RIGHT TO PROTECT THEMSELF FROM THE BILLON ARABS WHO WOULD LIKE TO DO THE SAME THING NOW,NEVER AGAIN THE LAND BELONGS TO THE JEWS AND ARABS ARE NOT WELCOME AS JEWS ARE NOT
WELCOMED IN ARAB LANDS,THEY WILL PROTECT THEMSELFS BY ALL MEANS POSSIBLE,
NO MATTER WHAT.
33. yeah | 11.05.09
israel should have to give up land, but jews expelled from arab nations in ‘48 should get nothing…I’m sure this “convenient” seizure of arms was orchestrated by Israel. They carefully sailed a ship to iran, loaded it with giant crates of weapons, set sail, intercepted the weapons (all with nobody realizing the conspiracy) and then cried foul…The UN pulled out of the land in ‘48 and said “jews and arabs, go at it” and israel won. Palestinians should have a state, but aren’t really in a position of power to refuse to start negotiating until israel freezes settlements…Whatever floats your (arms filled) boat, though…
34. Joe | 11.05.09
Israel wants charge Iran for war crimes because of the arms shipment to Siria, Than we should charge the U.S. for war crimes for shipping arms to israel, after all they used U.S. arms for the war crimes in Gaza
36. anonym | 11.05.09
wow how clueless these anti-semites are (and well organized). you should try educating yourself before making comments like above and risk sounding narrow minded
37. Smolenski | 11.05.09
Israelis boarded a ship in international water!!!!!!
We can’t even challenge pirates in high seas when they’re not in the act. Yet the West doesn’t cry foul about Israel. They really ARE above any law!!!
38. Tom Gerber | 11.05.09
The seizure of the ship was reported in international waters. Hasn’t this always been considered piracy? Does Israel have no respect for the law?
40. Phil | 11.06.09
The path to Palestinian peace and prosperity is abundantly clear… Palestinians have land, they have access to the ocean, and they have a natural trading partner through their shared border with the region’s most stable, democratic, and prosperous country, Israel.
At some point a society must take responsibility and stop blaming others for their woes. The sad fact is that democracy and human rights are not available in any Arab country; it is not fair to assume that every indignity endemic to Palestinian daily life is the fault of the Israelis. Israel cannot magically impose democratic humane and effective governance onto a people who don’t want it.
Palestine needs to stop the violence and focus on building a decent society within their borders. But Hamas, in keeping with local tradition, is instead focused on the elimination of Jews from lands where Muslim populations are or ever were present. All the other Jewish communities such as those of Iraq, Yemen, and Algeria have already been wiped out (Iraq, having successfully rid itself of all its Jews, is now working on its Christian population next). But there still remains one small bastion (really really small, look at the map) where Jews are able to live (somewhat) peacefully in the Middle East, called Israel. Naturally, Iran and Syria are working hard at eliminating this safe haven by fighting a proxy war using the poor Palestinians as foot soldiers.
To say that Israeli treatment of Palestinians amounts to some sort of an “ethnic cleansing” is incredible. By definition, a population doesn’t increase from a genocide; life expectancies don’t go up when there’s a genocide. Yet the population of Palestine has exploded exponentially with the advent of modern medical care provided by Israel. Infant mortality has dropped drastically, life expectancy is vastly higher, and the simple number of Palestinians alive has risen many-fold as a direct result of their improved medical care from Israeli succor, combined with their extraordinarily high birth rate (the highest in the Middle East, which I suppose some would find a way to blame Israel for as well).
Now the traditional Middle East way to deal with dissenters is to just wipe them out wholesale if you can. That’s what Syria did to its town called Hama, where an uprising was quickly resolved by gassing the entire village. Ditto for many Iraqi Shi’ite and Kurd towns. And surely many more places we’ll never know about because of a lack of any free press in those countries.
That is however not the Israeli way, Israel is deeply committed to preserving all human life (including its own). But is there really any question what those rockets were intended for? How can you grant a right of return to people with no track record for human rights, whose openly stated first order of business will be to kill you?
41. David | 11.06.09
Israel is the front line in the battle against extreme rouge states like Iran, Syria and the Wahabis supported by the Saudi petrodollars.
What Israel faces today, the western (and eastern) world will face tomorrow.
It started with suicide bombers who now frequent Iraq, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. If sensible people will not take notice and support Israel, they will be awoken by the sound of an explosive planted nearby by those who seek to undermine the free and prosperous western world.
Those who seek to terrorize in order to achieve their aim of fanatic religious hegemony, will not stop with Israel. They have proven that. They will keep expanding westwards and eastwards. Have you forgotten 9/11, 7/7 and Mumbai so quickly? WAKE UP!!!
42. JL (France) | 11.06.09
to #19
4 million refugees ! Do you know that the status of Palestinian refugee is the only one in the world that can be INHERITED ? Children and grand-children of Palestinian refugees are refugees too. Wait long enough and you have billions of Palestinian refugees.
43. Esther Haman | 11.06.09
Hezbollah is a well received political party in Lebanon and has diplomatic relation with EU and well recognized in the Int’l community, even we talk with them. They fought for oLebanon independent against the Zionists and won. Also, Hamas is a democratically elected body in Gaza and has speakers in UN. Its the Zionists state that calls them Terrorist. But, it takes one to know one.
44. Common Sense | 11.06.09
Enough blind thoughts!!! Israel is not going out to kill. THese arabs one goal is to kill. And YES Israel has the right to stop a shipment that is heading to kill its citizens, I dont care where it is.
YAou guys just dont want to see the truth! Israel had a head on its shoulders, these other ‘militants’ have a sword on theirs!! They are a bunch of fools with no reasoning…JUST to kill.
Maybe 1,400 wouldnt be killed if they put their launchers in other areas rather than schools!!!!! They killed their own citizens.
45. SmokeyWC | 11.06.09
I love how Israel states their act of Piracy, were actions in response to unsubstantiated claims of the weapons shipment being a war crime; yet they deny and condemn the Goldtone report, clearly documenting all of Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinians. Their hypocrisy is nauseating.
46. kellyp | 11.06.09
Never Again. Its that simple.
Never again will Jews let their fellows be attacked by others.
Never again will Jews tolerate the killing of Jews without the killers being punished.
Never again will Jews let other who claim their goal to ‘exterminate Jews’ to gather weapons to fulfill that goal.
Never again will Jews depend that armies of other nations come to their defense.
Never again will Jews wait for righteous and ethical people to stand up and say no to others out to commit genocide.
Never again will Jews wait for a debating society dominated by leaders promising to eradicate Jews to defend them.
Never again will Jews care about what bigots have to say about them.
47. offThePress | 11.06.09
Israel delivered 20,000 swine flu vaccines to the Palestinian Authority ahead of the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Civil Administration in the West Bank, a unit in the Israeli Ministry of Defense, arranged for the entry Thursday of 20,000 doses of swine flu vaccine into Ramallah via the Kalandiya crossing.
This year, Saudi Arabian authorities have made swine flu vaccination a condition for entrance into Mecca, Islam’s holiest city. Islam commands that Muslims complete the Hajj, an annual pilgrimage to the city, at least once during their lifetimes. It is currently the largest annual pilgrimage in the world.
According to the Civil Administration statement, Israel “places great value on cooperation and coordination with the Palestinian Authority in the fields of health and religious expression.”
48. pedro sam | 11.07.09
We need to see where exactly these arms were going. What we need in the world is peace.
49. Andrew Michaels | 11.07.09
Way ta go Israel…I am glad you have nukes and that the Arabs know it.
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1. irani | 11.05.09
It is beyond comprehension that an illegal zionist nation has the guts to call an alleged shipment of small arms to Arab freedom fighters a “war crime” and yet that same country receives from U.S. and sells the most advanced weapons to various dictators around the world on a daily basis with impunity. Go figure!