Sammy Ofer, Magnate and Israeli Power Broker, Dies at 89

A spokeswoman for the family said he had died after a serious illness. The family provided no further details.

Mr. Ofer bought his first small cargo ship in the 1950s and built a vast global shipping enterprise, his fleets ranging from tankers to cruise lines, and he had interests in banking and real estate. The Forbes list of world billionaires listed his family as 79th, and Israel’s wealthiest, with a net worth of $10.3 billion.

It is, according to the Ofer Group’s Web site, “a classic tale of a family’s journey from rags to riches.”

It is also a tale tainted by scandal and intrigue.

Although media-shy, Mr. Ofer often made headlines in Israel for his business dealings, and was sometimes assailed for being part of a business elite that critics say wields disproportionate power. The Ofers are among about 20 families who together control 25 percent of the country’s exchange-listed companies.

But the biggest scandal broke two weeks ago, when allegations surfaced that the Ofer family empire was doing business with Iran, Israel’s arch-enemy.

The United States State Department announced on May 24 that it was imposing penalties on the company for violating American sanctions against Iran. The State Department said the Ofer Group’s Singapore subsidiary, Tanker Pacific, sold a ship to Iran in September 2010 for millions of dollars.

Tanker Pacific has denied knowing that the buyer was an Iranian front company.

Days later, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that at least 13 Tanker Pacific ships had docked in Iran over the past decade.

Tanker Pacific confirmed that its ships had docked in Iranian ports over the years, transporting refined oil and petroleum products, which the company said was permitted under international rules. It said that it ceased such trading in 2010 when new American restrictions took effect and that it stopped loading crude oil at Iranian ports in late 2010.

The Ofer family remained silent, but anonymous associates began hinting that the Ofers were not only after money, but had also been providing secret services to the State of Israel.

Adding to the mystery, Meir Dagan, Israel’s recently retired Mossad intelligence agency chief, has weighed in on the Ofer family’s behalf, saying he believed that the whole affair had been blown out of proportion and that the family had not broken any laws.

The Israeli news media have reveled in exposing links between Ofer-owned companies and former or would-be figures in the Israeli military establishment, and some critics accused the Ofers of trying to create a smokescreen of security ties to legitimize questionable dealings.

Ofer family associates have suggested that Israel had given the family permission to dock their ships in Iran. The prime minister’s office issued a statement last week saying there was no such authorization.

In a separate statement after Mr. Ofer’s death, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr. Ofer for his contributions to the Israeli economy and society.

“Ofer was a true Zionist,” Mr. Netanyahu said, who even at the peaks of achievement never forgot his obligation to others.

Sammy Hershkovitz was born on Feb. 22, 1922, in Galatz, Romania, and moved with his family to Haifa, then in the British Mandate of Palestine, at age 2. His family later changed its name to the Hebrew name Ofer.

Mr. Ofer joined a shipping agency in Haifa, and served in the British Royal Navy on board a minesweeper during World War II. He then served as an officer in the Israeli Navy. Mr. Ofer and his brother Yehuda, known as Yuli, joined their father’s chandlery business after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and started their own shipping company in the 1950s.

Mr. Ofer lived much of his life in Monaco, but returned to Israel in recent years.

In his later years, Mr. Ofer became an avid art collector and a renowned philanthropist. The family said he had donated more than $100 million for hospitals and other facilities and charities in Israel.

In 2006, he withdrew a planned $20 million donation to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art after other donors and some members of the public objected to renaming the museum for him and his wife. The couple placed advertisements explaining their decision in the Israeli newspapers under the headline: “Excuse us for wanting to make a donation.”

He had deep connections with the London shipping community, and in 2008 donated $39 million to the National Maritime Museum of Greenwich. That same year, he was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to British maritime heritage.

Mr. Ofer is survived by his wife, Aviva; his sons, Eyal and Idan, who run the family businesses; eight grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

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Israeli Soldiers Shoot at Protesters on Syrian Border

 

Wave after wave of protesters, mainly Palestinians from refugee camps in Syria, approached the frontier with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israeli soldiers opened fire on those who crossed a new trench and tried to attack the border fence near the towns of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and Quneitra in Syria.

By nightfall, the Syrian news agency SANA reported that 22 protesters had been killed and more than 350 had been wounded. Israeli officials said that they had no information on casualties but suggested that the Syrian figures were exaggerated.

Even so, it was the worst bloodshed in the Golan Heights since Israel and Syria fought a war there in 1973.

The protest, on the anniversary of the start of the 1967 Middle East war, followed a larger, coordinated assault by demonstrators three weeks ago on four fronts — Syria, Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank — and attempts on two others, Egypt and Jordan, that were thwarted by those governments.

This time, Lebanon and the Hamas government in Gaza kept protesters away from their borders, and the turnout was low in the West Bank.

The focus was on Syria, where thousands of protesters tried to force their way across the border. Syria’s decision to allow the protest appeared to reflect a calculated strategy to divert attention from its own antigovernment uprising.

Still, the protesters said they counted the day a success because they drew Israeli fire on unarmed demonstrators, generating outrage at Israel. At a time when the peace process is already strained, that reaction is likely to increase international pressure on Israel to create the conditions for resumed negotiations with the Palestinians, and to bolster support in the United Nations for the Palestinian appeal for statehood.

The young protesters, disillusioned with the stymied peace talks and continued Israeli settlement building, say they believe they have hit on a new tactic that at least achieves something, if at a cost, and they intend to repeat it.

“The plan is to clash with the soldiers now,” said Muhammad Abu al-Nassar, 25, who was protesting at a West Bank checkpoint. “We believe that unarmed popular resistance is the best form of ending the occupation.”

Israeli officials, who say they tried every nonlethal method of crowd control at their disposal before resorting to live fire, worry about being cast as the villain but admit they are in a bind.

“What would any country do if people from an enemy country were marching on its borders?” asked Dan Gillerman, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. “We tried all other possible means to stop them.”

At the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not allow “extremist elements” to penetrate Israel’s borders. “I have instructed the security forces to act with determination, with maximum restraint, but with determination to maintain our sovereignty, our borders, our communities and our citizens,” he said.

A military spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, said that Israeli forces warned the protesters not to approach the border, in Arabic with megaphones; used nonlethal riot dispersal means like tear gas, which failed to deter them; and then fired warning shots in the air.

When the demonstrators reached the fence, soldiers were “left with no choice,” she said, “but to open fire at the feet of the protesters.”

Syria’s role also creates a quandary for Israel. Although the countries technically remain in a state of war, Syria has kept the border quiet for 37 years.

Protesters there could not have approached the border without government acquiescence, and analysts said the decision to allow the protest was aimed at deflecting attention from the protests sweeping Syria against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“I would note that these protests were carried live on Syrian television” an Israeli official said. “They do not carry the protests against their own regime live. They made a decision to try to exploit this for their own purposes.”

The official spoke anonymously because, he said, Israel did not want to allow the protests to stoke tensions with Syria.

But even revived peace talks with the Palestinians would be unlikely to alter Mr. Assad’s calculations.

Rina Castelnuovo contributed reporting from Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, and Fares Akram from Gaza.

 

Shalit protest on Israeli holiday

 10 May 2011 Last updated at 08:57 ET By Yolande Knell BBC News, Jerusalem  Yoel Shalit wants politicians to remember his brother who has been held in Gaza for five years Israel's main Independence Day celebration was interrupted by a protest by the brother of the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

The televised service on Monday night traditionally involves the lighting of a dozen torches on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

Yoel Shalit and his girlfriend carried signs calling for Gilad Shalit to be remembered.

Police moved them on after they appeared in front of top politicians.

Gilad Shalit, was captured by militants from Gaza in a cross-border raid near Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing in June 2006.

He has since been held at an unknown location by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that governs the Gaza Strip.

His family and other supporters have worked hard to keep his case in the public eye, even setting up a large demonstration tent close to the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem.

The Israeli soldier, who had the rank of corporal when he was seized, has since been promoted to staff sergeant. He is now 24.

Stalled talks

In a television interview on Monday, the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, said that negotiations to free Gilad Shalit, in exchange for the release of about 1,400 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, had stalled.

He blamed the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel is opposed to a reconciliation pact signed by rival Palestinian factions

Meanwhile, at an official Memorial Day ceremony, Mr Netanyahu stressed his government's commitment to bringing the soldier home.

Reports said he also referred to Hamas after its recent signing of a reconciliation deal with the rival Fatah faction headed by the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, saying, "we will not be tempted to believe that the leopard has changed its spots."

Israel views Hamas as a terrorist organisation. It opposed the pact that should lead to the setting up of an interim Palestinian unity government tasked with preparing for new elections.

Different narratives

Memorial ceremonies, to recall Israel's wartime losses, take place at cemeteries, including Mount Herzl, immediately before Independence Day each year. They are sombre events in contrast with the joyful celebrations that follow when Israelis hold barbecues, parties and hike outdoors.

The Jewish state was founded on May 14, 1948, and anniversaries are calculated in accordance with the Hebrew calendar.

On 15 May, Palestinians, mark the creation of Israel with a day of mourning, called al-Naqba, Arabic for 'catastrophe'.

They remember the hundreds of thousands of refugees and land and property that was lost.

In a routine step, the Israeli authorities prevent most Palestinians from entering Israel from the occupied West Bank during Independence Day celebrations. They say this is a necessary security precaution.

Israeli Strike on Iran Would Be ‘Stupid,’ Ex-Spy Chief Says

The intelligence official, Meir Dagan, who retired in early January after eight years as director of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, made the remarks at a conference here on Friday. His assessment contradicts the policy of the country’s political leaders, who have long argued in favor of a credible military option against Iran’s nuclear program.

The defense minister, Ehud Barak, criticized Mr. Dagan after his comments were widely publicized in the Israeli news media on Sunday.

Mr. Barak, saying that Mr. Dagan deserved credit for his contributions to state security, contended that he was “not wise to share his thoughts, legitimate as they may be,” with the general public.

“In the end of the day, these issues and decisions belong by their nature to the political echelon,” Mr. Barak said, adding that he was not sure that Mr. Dagan’s assessment was correct.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Israeli, American and European officials believe that it is intended to produce nuclear weapons.

Independent analysts said that such a public stand by a respected figure like Mr. Dagan would complicate any plans the government might have to attack Iran.

Mr. Dagan, speaking for the first time in public since his retirement, was addressing a conference of senior public servants. His remarks were confirmed by a person who attended the conference, which was held at Belgium House, the faculty club of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Mr. Dagan is known to have long opposed military action against Iran, but he had never said so publicly. Mr. Dagan, who also said Friday that Iran must not be allowed to produce nuclear weapons, has advocated covert means of setting back the Iranian program.

Israel considers the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat.

Speaking last week at a ceremony marking Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the world to “unequivocally condemn those who call for the obliteration of the Jewish state.”

“Iran is even arming itself with nuclear weapons to realize that goal, and until now the world has not stopped it,” he said. “The threat to our existence, to our future, is not theoretical. It cannot be swept under the carpet; it cannot be reduced. It faces us and all humanity, and it must be thwarted.”

It is not the first time that Mr. Dagan has courted controversy where Iran is concerned since he left office. In January, he told a group of Israeli reporters that he believed Iran would not be able to build a nuclear weapon before 2015, a year or more later than other Israeli estimates.

His revised assessment was based on obstacles that Iran has faced, including technical difficulties and covert actions against its nuclear program by intelligence agencies, according to Israeli news reports.

Some Israeli officials reacted furiously, worried that Mr. Dagan’s comments could reduce pressure on Iran.

But other Israelis, including two other former leaders of Mossad, said it was important for Mr. Dagan to be able to express his opinion. One official, who spoke at the time on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s delicacy, said, “It has never been about when exactly they will get the device.”

The real challenge over the next 12 to 18 months, the official said, is to prevent Iran from reaching the threshold of nuclear weapons capability. An unexpected technological breakthrough in Iran is possible, he said.

Arguing that this was a time for more diplomatic pressure, not less, the official said that Mr. Dagan’s 2015 assessment might have been partly intended to quiet the drums of war, but that it was nevertheless “really unfortunate.”

 

Tainted Fuel Grounds Israeli Planes

JERUSALEM — Most flights out of Israel’s international airport were grounded Thursday as a safety precaution after the airport’s fuel supply was found to be tainted, Israeli officials said.

The officials insisted that passengers were never in any danger, although Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that a number of airplanes had already been filled with the suspect fuel and had to be emptied.

Contaminated jet fuel can cause significant damage to aircraft and their engines.

Mr. Katz, who described the situation as “grave,” said that “there was a malfunction in the process, a malfunction that has been dealt with.”

Paz Oil Company Ltd., one of two main providers of jet fuel to Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, said in a statement that an unidentified oily substance had built up on the filters of the fuel terminals at the airport, and there were concerns that it could filter into the fuel tanks of airplanes.

Emergency fuel supplies were brought to the airport in tankers from outside depots, and by early Friday, planes were departing for nearby airports, like Cyprus, where they could refuel.

Mr. Katz said that the Israeli military had been asked to provide logistical support.

The National Infrastructure Ministry was setting up a committee to investigate the cause of the problem. There was no immediate suggestion of sabotage.

Flights out of Israel were grounded for several hours in 2005 after the fuel supply was found not to meet international standards.

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Palestinian Police Kill Israeli Visiting West Bank Holy Site

 

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian police shot and killed one Israeli and wounded four others early Sunday after the Israelis surreptitiously visited a Jewish holy site inside a Palestinian-controlled area, officials on both sides said.

The shooting occurred outside Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus after three carloads of religious Israeli Jews visited the site to pray, without coordinating their plans through the Israeli Army. Twice-monthly trips to the tomb have been organized with army escorts for the past four years without incident.

Palestinian security officials said they were questioning the Palestinian police officers who fired their weapons during the episode. The dead man was identified as Ben-Yosef Livnat, a 24-year-old father of four from Jerusalem and a nephew of Limor Livnat, the minister of culture and sport from the Likud Party in Israel. Mr. Livnat grew up on a settlement near Nablus, where his parents still live.

After the shooting, Palestinian youths set fires outside the tomb. Israeli and Palestinian security officials extinguished them. Later, at a funeral procession for Mr. Livnat that began at the nearby settlement, dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians along the way, smashing their cars and wounding a boy.

The procession ended at a grave site on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where Ms. Livnat, the minister and aunt of the dead man, called his killing “a cold-blooded murder.”

A statement from Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is responsible for Israeli security in the West Bank, also used the term “murder,” adding, “No failure of coordination can justify an event of this kind and firing on innocent people.” Mr. Barak instructed the army to investigate and demanded that the Palestinians do the same and that they take all necessary measures against those who fired.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the killing as well.

The Palestinian governor of Nablus, Jibril al-Bakri, told Israel Radio that the shooting was a result of lack of coordination between the worshipers and the Israeli Army. He said that Palestinian police officers who were on a regular patrol shot a warning into the air before firing at the cars. He stressed that the shooting was a mistake.

An Israeli military spokesman said at day’s end that Israeli and Palestinian security officials had met and exchanged what they knew and were continuing their inquiries.

The Palestinians, he said, accused the Israeli worshipers of having thrown rocks at the police before the shooting began.

David Ha’Ivri, a Jewish settler spokesman who is involved in coordinating visits to Joseph’s Tomb with the Israeli Army, said some worshipers refused to visit in this way and sneaked in on their own.

“We do not endorse that,” Mr. Ha’Ivri said. “We call on people to be responsible.” He added that the organized visits to the tomb were nonetheless still too infrequent to accommodate all who wished to go. Most of those who sneak in are members of the Breslov Hasidic sect who live in Jerusalem, he and others said.

The military spokesman said that on Jewish holidays — it is Passover now — it was not uncommon for some devout Jews to sneak into holy sites under Palestinian control. If caught by the Palestinians, they are nearly always handed over to the Israelis without violence, he said.

Many Jews believe that Joseph’s Tomb is the final burial place of the son of Jacob, the biblical patriarch.

A spokesman for the Israeli rescue service, Magen David Adom, said that the cars had been fired upon after visiting the tomb. He said that apart from Mr. Livnat, who died of a gunshot wound to the head, two others in a second car were evacuated by helicopter. Others were lightly wounded and treated on the spot.

 

Israeli Luminaries Press For a Palestinian State

JERUSALEM — Dozens of Israel’s most honored intellectuals and artists have signed a declaration endorsing a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders and asserting that an end to Israel’s occupation “will liberate the two peoples and open the way to a lasting peace.”

The signers plan to announce their position on Wednesday from the same spot in Tel Aviv where the Jewish state declared its independence in the spring of 1948. The page-long declaration is expected to be read there by Hanna Maron, one of the country’s best-known actresses and a winner of the Israel Prize, the country’s most prestigious award, which is granted yearly on Independence Day.

Of the more than 60 who had signed the declaration by Tuesday, about 20 were winners of the Israel Prize and a number of others had been awarded the Emet Prize, given by the prime minister for excellence in science, art and culture. Signatures were still being collected on Tuesday.

“The land of Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people where its identity was shaped,” the statement begins. “The land of Palestine is the birthplace of the Palestinian people where its identity was formed.” It goes on to say that now is the time to live up to the commitment expressed by Israel’s founders in their Declaration of Independence to “extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness.”

Yaron Ezrahi, a political theorist at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem and one of the signers, said the group chose this week to issue its declaration because it was Passover, which marks the freedom of the Jewish people from slavery.

“We don’t want to pass over the Palestinian people,” Mr. Ezrahi said. “This is a holiday of freedom and independence.” He added that given the struggle for freedom across the Arab world today and the Palestinians’ plans to seek international recognition of their statehood by September, it was important for Israeli voices to be added to the call.

Two weeks ago, another group of several dozen prominent Israelis, many of them from the fields of security and business, issued what they called the Israeli Peace Initiative, a more detailed but somewhat similar plan for a two-state solution. Both groups say they are upset by their government’s policies in this regard, which they consider insufficient.

The Palestinian leadership says that unless Israel ends the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it will not return to negotiations with it and will instead seek international recognition of Palestinian statehood by September at the United Nations.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the real problem is that the Palestinians refuse to acknowledge that Israel is a Jewish state. Official recognition of that, it says, would revive negotiations, although there are also clear differences over land and Israel’s security needs.

Mr. Netanyahu is expected to announce by the end of May his proposal for moving forward with talks on a two-state solution.