by Jason
Yet again, Israel starts more trouble by being nosy, paranoid, and overly protective of its citizens. After all, one would really have to stretch the imagination to assume that the various arms, guns, ammunition, explosives, and rockets sent from Iran to Hezbollah were for anything other than peaceful purposes. I am sure this is part of Iran’s unilateral disarmament program. They were simply giving the now useless weapons to Hezbollah so that they could in turn melt them into plowshares. Or “parts for bulldozers” as the official story goes.
Washington Post | Israel says seized ship contained Iranian arms
As part of its routine inspection of ships in the Mediterranean Sea, the Israeli navy intercepted the vessel Tuesday night near Cyprus, roughly 100 miles off the Israeli coast. There was no resistance from the ship’s crew, and once Israeli special forces boarded, they found an estimated 600 tons of rockets, guns and other munitions, said Rear Adm. Rani Ben-Yehuda, deputy head of the Israeli navy.
Flying under an Antiguan flag, the ship, called the Francop, was carrying cargo loaded in Damietta, Egypt, and bound for Latakia in Syria, Israeli defense officials said. Some of the ship’s 500 containers were stamped with the insignia of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and 36 of them were found to contain arms. Other documents found on board identified the cargo as originating in Iran, Ben-Yehuda said.
Commentary Magazine | The New Karine A
Israeli Navy commandos seized a cargo ship last night en route from Iran to Syria. It contained 10 times the arms that the Karine A attempted to deliver from Iran to the Palestinians in 2002, enough weapons, according to the head of the Israeli Navy, to keep Hezbollah supplied in a hot war for a month. Along with 3,000 rockets, the ship contained:
107-millimeter rockets, 60-millimeter mortars, 7.62-rifle Kalashnikov-ammunition, F-1 grenades and 122-millimeter Katyusha rockets. On the side of some of the cases inside the containers the words “parts of bulldozers” was written.
The Syrian foreign minister, Walid Moallem, soared to Baghdad Bob levels of hilarity by trying to deny the reality of what the Israelis discovered.
“Unfortunately there are official pirates disrupting the movement of goods between Iran and Syria,” he told reporters on a visit to Teheran. “I stress, the ship was not carrying Iranian arms bound for Syria, nor was it carrying material for manufacturing weapons in Syria. It was carrying [commercial] goods from Syria to Iran.”
Moallem says there were no arms on board. The IDF has released a video of the ship’s weapons being unloaded in the port of Ashdod. There are rows and rows of mortar shells, rockets, and crates filled with grenades.
What will Obama say about all this? Being that evidence of Iranian-Syrian hostile intent complicates the administration’s desire for “engagement,” whatever that means anymore, the answer is: probably nothing.
Israel’s other peaceful neighbor is also in the news.
- World Tribune | Hamas test-fires rocket ‘of strategic range’ into the Mediterranean Sea
- RTT News | Hamas’ New Rocket Can Reach Tel Aviv: Israel
- New York Times | Hamas Improved Rocket Abilities Since War
Jason
Mike
8 responses so far ↓
Whoopsiedoo // November 5, 2009 at 1:01 pm
These weapons are breeding. First it was 100 tons. Later it was amended to 60 tons and now it’s up to 600 tons. Abandon ship! These weapons are breeding!
Weapons that reproduce themselves, a dangerous new addition to the mighty terrorist arsenal.
Thousands of rockets, millions of mortar rounds all from Iran, why if this continues sooner or later surely some Israeli is going to be injured you mark my words.
And of course this time perhaps the Israelis will show their proof.
sanityinjection // November 6, 2009 at 3:37 pm
It just goes to show you that those who excuse and appease terrorism are never deterred by the facts. Hezbollah and Hamas have never made any secret of their goal of killing as many Jews as they possibly can with the hope of making Palestine, if not Judenfrei, at least solidly controlled by Arabs. That they continue to pursue this goal is abundantly clear from the fact that rocket attacks on Israeli civilians (both Arab and Jewish) have always continued throughout so-called “ceasefires” and “peace talks”.
But the international community prefers to turn a blind eye to Iran and Syria’s support for these terrorists no matter how many times they gte caught at it – just like they persist in the fiction that the Syrian site bombed by the Israelis was anything other than a nuclear weapons facility. After all, why let the facts get in the way of the noble goal of peace?
Whoopsiedoo // November 9, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Sanityinjection get your facts right before you come spouting at me sunshine. Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 because it claimed it was exacerbated by continuous rocket attacks from Gaza and the world lapped up this puke.
In November 2008 there were 125 rocket fired from Gaza and 68 mortar rounds. Why so many? Because Israel broke the cease fire with an air attack on Gaza. In fact Israel frequently broke the cease fire during that summer and fall of 2008 with several assassinations often using unmanned drones.
Now, Saniyinjection look at the two months prior to November when Israel broke the cease fire. During September and October of 2008 combined, there were only 2 (two) rockets and 4 (four) mortar rounds fired on Israel from Gaza. It had almost stopped entirely. But then again Israel needs to keep things at a rolling boil so it can continue to take Palestinian lands doesn’t it?
Nuclear weapons? Are you aware that Israel has nuclear weapons? If you are, then you are a total hypocrite and if you are not, then you a another mouth breathing knuckle dragging neocon moron.
sanityinjection // November 10, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Whoopsiedoo (great name for somebody who expects to be taken seriously, BTW):
Maybe you should try getting your facts from someplace other than CAIR and the Iranian press, because like most Palestinian radicals you don’t know what you’re talking about at all.
Let me start at the beginning so you can take notes. The Gaza war was *started by Hamas* on December 18, 2008 when Hamas unilaterally announced that it was ending its cease-fire with Israel. Now, I realize this is a tough concept for you to understand, but when you end a cease-fire you are AT WAR. Despite the fact that rocket attacks continued throughout that so-called ceasefire.
Of course, you and Hamas prefer the kind of war where the Palestinians kill civilians and the Israelis don’t fight back. Well, sorry, the Jews had enough of that kind of war in 1945.
On December 24 Hamas started firing a new kind of rocket with an increased range that could hit cities like Ashdod and Beersheba. That meant a much greater danger than before to a larger portion of Israelis, and *that* is why Israel launched Operation Cast Lead – to take out as many of those rockets as they could. Their goal was not to “take Palestinian lands”, which they could easily have done.
Since the war ended with another “ceasefire”, Israel continues to experience rocket attacks at the rate of approximately 1 per day. That’s the Hamas/Hezbollah idea of peace – killing you more slowly.
As for the nuclear issue – Yes, Israel has nuclear weapons, and has never used them. They are under the control of a stable, democratic government which does not exist in the Arab world. A Syrian nuke would have been under the control of Bashar Assad alone – until the day Hezbollah and its Shiite allies in Syria over threw Assad’s regime and took possession of it. If you can’t fathom the difference between a responsible democracy and a dictatorship that foments terrorism, you have no business arguing with grown-ups on the Internet.
Let me know if you want to play some more.
Whoopsiedoo // November 11, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Whoopsiedoo (great name for somebody who expects to be taken seriously, BTW):
“Whoopsiedoo” is what I shout when I watch someone walk into a big wet cow pat and sanityinjection you might want to take a moment to wash and freshen up cause you just walked right into a whopper.
“Let me start at the beginning so you can take notes. The Gaza war was *started by Hamas* on December 18, 2008 when Hamas unilaterally announced that it was ending its cease-fire with Israel. Now, I realize this is a tough concept for you to understand, but when you end a cease-fire you are AT WAR. Despite the fact that rocket attacks continued throughout that so-called ceasefire.”
No the cease fire was broken on November 4, 2008. You conveniently fail to mention that Israel broke the ceasefire on November the 4th 2008 with an air attack that killed 6 Palestinians. Up until then the Egyptian brokered ceasefire had been a resounding success and the rocket attacks had essentially been eliminated entirely. September 2008, 1 (one) rocket fired from the Gaza Ghetto into Israel. October 2008, 1 (one) rocket fired from the Gaza Ghetto into Israel. That’s right sanityinjection two rockets in two months leading up to the air attack by Israel. During the entire cease fire not one Israeli either civilian or military was killed. In fact it was only after 300 Palestinians were killed that Israel suffered its first death. Also brokered in the cease fire was an agreement that Israel would lift the blockade of the Gaza Ghetto. Israel never honored this agreement.
But somehow Israel was able to have the MSM in the USA tell different story. Israel, it said, had no option but to attack, it had to stop the rocket attacks from Gaza. Why would the US MSM say this when there were no rocket attacks? The answer, just look at who owns the MSM in the USA.
Israel is not interested in peace it is interested only in taking more Palestinian land and to that end it keeps things at a rolling boil, making sure peace never has a chance.
CAIR and the Iranian press? No I don’t think so. Try these on for size.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1230/1230581467173.html?via=mr
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2309849/cnn_confirms_israel_broke_ceasefire_first_a_video_from_sabbahblog_cnn_gaza_israel_palestine_hamas/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2309849/cnn_confirms_israel_broke_ceasefire_first_a_video_from_sabbahblog_cnn_gaza_israel_palestine_hamas/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Qassam_rocket_attacks_in_Israel_in_2008
“Responsible democracy”, don’t make me laugh!
“Let me know if you want to play some more.” Sure after you’ve freshened up a bit sanityinjection.
sanityinjection // November 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Ah, now it all becomes clear. You’re one of those “international Jewish conspiracy” types. I love that it never occurs to you numb-nuts that the most powerful media mogul in the world is Rupert Murdoch. Not. A. Jew.
BTW, repeating the same arguments a second time in the face of contradictory evidence doesn’t really convince anyone. Nor does citing Wikipedia as an authoritative source. But since you accept it as authoritative, I’m sure you’ll vouch for this article which confirms that the rocket attacks are often aimed at schools and schoolchildren – talk about brave freedom-fighters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
You’re just not living mentally in the same world as the rest of us when you say that Israel “is interested only in taking more Palestinian land”. Ever cracked open a history book? Israel conquered ALL the Palestinian land 42 years ago in 1967. Since then they’ve done nothing but give it back. But please, don’t let facts or reality detract from your great saga of victimhood. Cow pat, indeed.
sanityinjection // November 12, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Not to belabor the point, but consider this case in which an Israeli Jew is about to be sentenced by an Israeli court for killing innocent Palestinians:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=9061897
He could get life in prison. If it were up to me, he’d be executed. But find me one example – just one! of an Arab court that ever sentenced anyone for attacking Jews.
It is highly ironic that those who criticize Israel for mistreating the Palestinian minority are championed by Arab states who have made a specialty out of mistreating minorities in their own countries *including* the Palestinians themselves! Ask any Palestinian old enough to remember whether life was better in the West Bank under Jordanian rule or in Gaza under Egyptian rule. Those countries treated their “brethren” worse than dirt.
I don’t fault any Palestinian for wanting independence, but the rhetoric rarely matches the reality.
Whoopsiedoo // November 13, 2009 at 11:53 am
“…the most powerful media mogul in the world is Rupert Murdoch. Not. A. Jew.” Go tell that to his mother and your likely to get a brikn in the toches.
“If it were up to me, he’d be executed.”
But if he was in the IDF holding a white phosphorus round you’d have no problem with it. Whoopsiedoo!
“BTW, repeating the same arguments a second time in the face of contradictory evidence doesn’t really convince anyone.”
Exactly what contradictory evidence might you be referring to sanityinjection? Indeed there may be evidence but you certainly haven’t shown any and BTW there’s no one else here.
To recap. The US news media deceived the people of these United States when it reported that Hamas was responsible for the failure of the cease fire in 2008 and was thus ultimately responsible for December Gaza invasion and massacre. In truth the ceasefire was a remarkable success until Israel destroyed it in November. Why?
Here’s why. Israel has nothing to gain and much to loose by making peace with the Palestinians. Peace would mean no more Palestinian land and Ben Gurion would turn in his grave. Because an Israeli has more chance of being killed by an ingrown toenail than by a Palestinian they continue to keep the conflict at a rolling boil and bulldozers at the ready. Israel knows that they can keep their hand in the cookie jar as long as they continue to control the US Senate the US Congress and the US media.
When this party ends with a bang (probably via Pakistan and not Iran) and the draft board is knocking at my door for my sons to go and die for Israeli settlers they will get a very warm welcome.
Stop the Land Grab and End the Damn Occupation.
And now sanityinjection you can have the last word. Adios.