The same time Bibi Netanyahoo came to Washington the treasury department published a list of companies breaking sanction against Iran which included companies from the Ofer Brothers Group, owned by the wealthiest family in Israel. Indeed many Israeli companies have business with Iran. The Ofer brothers are mainly involved in oil deals and shipping but there is much more going on:

Israeli exports to Iran focus on agricultural production means: Organic fertilizers, pierced irrigation pipes, hormones boosting milk productions and seeds.

The Iranians sell the Israelis pistachio, cashew nuts and mainly marble – one of Iran’s biggest industries.

So while it is screaming about the non-existing threat from Iran and demanding more sanctions one might argue that Israel is actually using these to further its own business interests. It indeed seems like Israel itself has itself not put any sanction on Iran. According to the former Mossad chief Meir Dagan:

“There’s no law saying you can’t dock in Iran. […],” Dagan said, adding: “They did not trade with Iran. They’re a transportation company. And besides, there’s no boycott on Iran.”

It is not very astonishing to see a former Mossad head defending the Ofer brothers:

According to the source close to the Ofer family, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the matter, Israeli officials have been assisted in a number of cases in recent years by the Ofer family’s business activities in the Persian Gulf for “national needs.”

“It’s no secret that the State of Israel sometimes seeks the help of business people,” the source said. “Some agree and some don’t.”

Richard Silverstein also has a source that claims:

.. that Ofer Brothers ships docked in Iranian ports “dozens” of times in the past few years, thus allowing “numerous” Mossad agents to sneak ashore for secret missions.

This of course might explain why a Knesset committee investigation of the Ofer brother deals with Iran was immediately shut down after receiving a note from (likely) Netanyahoo’s National Security Advisor Amidror:

Until less than two months ago Yaakov Amidror, the head of the National Security Council and the prime minister’s national security advisor, sat on the boards of several companies of the Ofer Brother Group. The group of companies is suspected of illegal trade with Iran through subsidiaries registered abroad.

Amidror, former head of military colleges in the Israel Defense Forces and of the research department of Military Intelligence, was appointed to the board of the Israel Corporation, which is controlled by brothers Sami and Idan Ofer, in early 2007. Amidror also served on the boards of several other Ofer-controlled companies, including two subsidiaries of Zim Integrated Shipping Services. Board members of these companies are usually paid several thousand shekels for each meeting, adding up to tens of thousands of shekels per year.

So we have a huge Israeli conglomerate which seems deeply connected with the Israeli military, secret services and government and which is doing commercial business with Iran. At the same time it is helping Mossad to play its dirty tricks on Iran.

I would not be astonished if we learn that there is also some weapon trade going on here. Where those transport helicopters from the Israeli Defense Force recently found in Spain while being prepared to be sold to Iran part of an Ofer brothers’ deal?