Israel Displays Iranian Missles



Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking today in Eilat,  Iranian missles are in the background. 

SEALED WITH A KISS:
"IRICA," [Iran Informatics Companies Association] tag is clearly visible
 

At last week's AIPAC gathering, Netanyahu warned that Iran already had missiles that can reach Israel, so Iranian development of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles [ICBM's] were meant to reach Europe and the United States.  He used an analogy to a Budweiser commercial to drive his point home. 

Netanyahu slams world's hypocrisy -Herb Keinon & Yaakov Lappin

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blasted the world's hypocrisy, saying there is a wave of condemnation of Israel when it "builds a balcony in Jerusalem," but only a drizzle of censure when Iran tries to smuggle long-range missiles into Gaza.

Netanyahu, standing at the Eilat port in front of rows of interdicted Syrian missiles and Iranian mortar shells, said that there are those in the world who did not want Israel to show the intercepted ordnance because they were not interested in knowing what was truly happening inside Iran, but rather to "develop the illusion that Iran has changed direction."

"But the facts," Netanyahu said, "prove the exact opposite." Without mentioning EU policy chief Catherine Ashton by name, he did refer critically to her current visit to Iran.

"I heard only isolated and weak condemnation of Iran from the international community regarding this deadly shipment," he said. "By contrast, we are witness to smiles and handshakes of representatives of the west with the representatives of Iran in Tehran at the very time that these missiles were being unloaded in Eilat.”

Netanyahu said that the world's ignoring Iran's involvement in the deadly shipment "is more evidence of the era of hypocrisy in which we live." This hypocrisy is not only morally wrong, he said, but dangerous.

"This time there were long-range missiles in these containers," he said. "In the containers in the future Iran can arm nuclear suitcases that it can send to every port in the world. The world must wake up from its illusions before it is too late and prevent Iran from getting the capability to manufacture nuclear weapons."
[Jerusalem Post]


The Amazing Coincidences of Iran's Javad Zarif - Claudia Rosett
 
Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif [pictured] ridiculed the seizure by Israel of Iranian munitions in the Red Sea, implying it was a public relations stunt timed to the AIPAC meeting in Washington.

But the time lines surrounding this shipment are intriguing. From details of this latest Iranian munitions-smuggling saga, it can be gleaned that while Zarif was in Vienna, standing next to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the freighter, secretly stuffed with weapons, was already enroute from Iran toward the Red Sea.
     
According to the Lloyd's List Intelligence shipping database, the Klos C arrived at Iran's Bandar Abbas anchorage about Jan. 23, lingering there for almost a fortnight - the window for the weapons to be stashed onboard - and departed about Feb. 3. On Jan. 24 - as the rockets were being loaded - Zarif along with Rouhani was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, telling an audience, "We can prepare for a better future by opening our minds and our hearts, and avoiding old stereotypes." By Feb. 2 - as the Klos C prepared to leave Iran - Zarif was meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Munich. 
(Forbes)
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UPDATES: 

Iran Weapons Ship Not Changing Any Minds - Lee Smith
 
The Klos C affair wasn't just about moving arms to terrorists. Rather it's part of the strategic missile campaign that Iran embarked on after Hizbullah's 2006 war with Israel. In arming its clients on Israel's borders (Hamas, Hizbullah, the Assad regime), Tehran seeks to change the balance of regional power by deterring Israel from striking its nuclear weapons facilities.
     
Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right to think the seizure is a big deal. But clearly it had no effect on Brussels, or more importantly on the White House. Obama administration officials explained that they're not happy about the Iranian action, but it's not changing any minds about engaging Tehran.
    
Netanyahu says the Iranians must never be allowed to have nuclear weapons capacity, and Obama says he wants to see Iran normalized and re-integrated into the international community. 
(Weekly Standard)


When Iran Goes Nuclear, the Saudis Will Buy Bomb from Pakistan
- Yaakov Lappin
 
As soon as Iran gets a nuclear bomb, Egypt will develop its own nuclear weapon, and Saudi Arabia will purchase one from Pakistan, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, director of political-military affairs at the Israel Defense Ministry, warned. "I'm disturbed that they [the international community] are going for an interim agreement mechanism. After six months, there will be another six months, and then there will be cracks in the wall of sanctions," he added.
(Jerusalem Post)
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Hamas and Iran Approved Gaza Rocket Fire - Ron Ben-Yishai
 
We have not seen such a simultaneous barrage of dozens of rockets since November 2012. It was a move initiated by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, likely in coordination with Hamas, which did not even try to prevent the fire. It's impossible that Hamas was unaware of the preparations for the parallel firing of dozens of rockets, so we can comprehend that Hamas gave its silent approval, even if it did not take part in the fire.
    
The rocket fire was likely related to the capture of the shipment of heavy rockets on the Klos C weapons ship from Iran. Islamic Jihad is the primary Palestinian organization with direct ties to Iran. The seizure of the arms ship required an Iranian response, and Islamic Jihad was probably asked to execute it.
     
Wednesday's rocket fire was massive quantity-wise, but they only fired short-range rockets, dozens of which didn't even reach Israel. 
(Ynet News)
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