Despite bluster, Isreal happily buys oil from Iran...

[Taco John]

Israel's Tehran connection

Israel, while supposedly observing an ironclad boycott of all things Iranian, is happily buying Iranian oil

4/4/08

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"?

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/...onnection.html

[HonestChieffan]

I suppose you have other sources for oil?

Or is this an anti-jewish post cloaked in different way?

[Brock]

You mean, despite being adamant that all of the ills in the world originate in the Zionist state, Iran happily fills it's pockets with Dirty Jew money.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by HonestChieffan

I suppose you have other sources for oil?

Or is this an anti-jewish post cloaked in different way?

State a fact get the anti-semite label. Typical NeoCon smear game to censor anything facts about Israel even if morally neutral.

[Adept Havelock]

Originally Posted by Brock

You mean, despite being adamant that all of the ills in the world originate in the Zionist state, Iran happily fills it's pockets with Dirty Jew money.

Yes, at the same time Israel denounces Iran as a grave threat to their national existence, they seem quite willing to send their Shekels to Iran via a middleman. Win-win for both in my book.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Adept Havelock

Yes, and while Israel denounces Iran as a grave threat to their national existence, they seem quite willing to send their Shekels to Iran via a middleman. Win-win for both in my book.

That's right. And is the power of the market=mutually beneficial exchanges. One needs something from the other.

I knew there was a tad of Mises in you.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Brock

You mean, despite being adamant that all of the ills in the world originate in the Zionist state, Iran happily fills it's pockets with Dirty Jew money.

[jAZ]

Originally Posted by Brock

You mean, despite being adamant that all of the ills in the world originate in the Zionist state, Iran happily fills it's pockets with Dirty Jew money.

When did Iran agree to boycott selling Isreal oil?

[ClevelandBronco]

I'm in the dark in one respect. Are we talking about the government of Israel directly importing Iranian oil? Is an Israeli corporation importing the oil? Is a foreign corporation transferring the oil to Israel?

The question becomes: Does this have anything to do with the State of Israel or is it a business transaction that is beyond her control?

(Be careful how you answer that, TJ and BEP...)

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

I'm in the dark in one respect. Are we talking about the government of Israel directly importing Iranian oil? Is an Israeli corporation importing the oil? Is a foreign corporation transferring the oil to Israel?

The question becomes: Does this have anything to do with the State of Israel or is it a business transaction that is beyond her control?

(Be careful how you answer that, TJ and BEP...)

I don't know the answers to any of that, I was just responding to a certain poster within this topic. However, since Israel is a rigidly socialist state, I'd imagine that the govt has some knowledge and/or involvement somewhere.

[bango]

Now Israel is a Socialist State too? There is not any place on Earth anymore that has a decent type of government anymore. Either it is a Fascist or Socialist State. There is not any way to escape it. What are we going to do?

[Dave]

Originally Posted by jAZ

When did Iran agree to boycott selling Isreal oil?

[Logical]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

I don't know the answers to any of that, I was just responding to a certain poster within this topic. However, since Israel is a rigidly socialist state, I'd imagine that the govt has some knowledge and/or involvement somewhere.

I swear, did you go to indoctrination U?

[Brock]

Originally Posted by jAZ

When did Iran agree to boycott selling Isreal oil?

They didn't. They swore to wipe it off the face of the world because it's the source of all evil in the world. No problems selling them oil though.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Ill-Logical

I swear, did you go to indoctrination U?

No. Did you go to "I don't know what I'm talking about U" due to this statement?
That happens to be a fact, if you did your research. They want to liberalize to more of a market economy but I'm not sure they have that much. My kid goes to a school with quite few Israelis in it and they've mentioned it.

However, since its establishment in 1948, Israel has followed an economic model that resembles liberal socialism.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Israel_socialist

Israel is unique among new societies both by being developed on the basis of socialist principles and in being created by immigrants from Eastern Europe, not by settlers from Britain or Western Europe. Later, Israel was to be unique because of its move from a dominance of socialist thinking to a strategic alliance with the US.

Based on economic considerations in their narrowest sense, Israel cannot survive, and most of the elite can become much richer by moving to other countries. The forefathers of Israel, who created the mythos of the pioneer, understood that point very well. In the much more heterogeneous society that is the Israel of today, it is crucial to be able to reach new consensus, in which economic efficiency considerations will be taken into account. Otherwise, Israeli firms could not compete in the global arena. Such a consensus does not necessarily mean that Israel must adopt a liberal type free enterprise economy. It must, however, change the mythos to allow the new entrepreneurs to become the heroes of the future. While it is almost natural to emphasize the problems and difficulties, it is important to do so with some perspective.

http://www.israeleconomy.org/aharoni.htm

Aharoni writes of Israel's centrally planned economy:

"Despite a wider recognition that market forces may be a better means for resource allocation decisions, government bureaucracy and politicians found it extremely hard to give up even a little bit of their cherished power. Despite much preaching, government intervention deepened; and the diverse methods of the intervention continued, irrespective of the party of power. Government intervention shifted from rationing, ad hoc decisions and administrative controls to the control of virtually all sources of capital and their administrative allocation at varying rates of subsidy."