German authorities have impounded an Israeli shipment that included military equipment headed to Iran. The Israeli ship, 'Zim Antwerp I,' had a cargo comprised of 3000 Israeli-made rubber treads for armored personnel carriers. The Israeli Ministry of Defense issued a statement explaining that they had approved the shipment on the premise that the cargo was headed to Thailand. The statement said: "The Defense Ministry forbids sales of military equipment, spare parts and weapons of any kind to Iran," however, the history and facts easily paint a different scenario.

An Israeli firm, PIAD, headed by Avichai Weinstein, sent the shipment. Weinstein is related to Eli Cohen, who three years ago was suspected of trying to sell tank engines to Iran, Channel One's news program reported Wednesday. "Cohen was never indicted, but the Defense Ministry suspended contacts with his company and cancelled Cohen's permit to export military equipment. Since Ayatollah Khumeini set up the Islamic Republic, which hastened to sever ties with Israel, the covert relations between the two states, especially in arms sales, never really stopped," Haaretz newspaper reported today.

In 1998, an Israeli court sentenced an Israeli businessman, Nahum Manbar, to 16 years in jail for arranging to sell Iran materials for making poison gas. The judges had rejected Manbar's claim that Israeli companies, after the approval of the Ministry of Defense, were also selling arms to the Islamic Republic. In the 1980s, the Israeli government was involved in a complicated deal involving the United States, Nicaragua and Iran that eventually became known as "Irangate." The ties between Israel and Iran were maintained, despite international sanctions imposed on Iran and the ban on selling weapons to them. This caused a rift more than once in the relations between Israel and the US.

Back in January, the Israeli navy intersepted the 'Karine A,' a cargo ship with weapons, believed to have sailed from Iran and was supposedly headed to the Palestinian territories. Unlike this incident, the 'Karine A' was exposed by the international media and affected US policy towards Palestinians and their leadership. The PNA was forced to claim responsibility, even though there were no direct links established. This shipment of weapons to Iran comes at a time when the world, under the leadership of the US, is tightening its grip on weapon smuggling, especially to countries that Bush refers to as the "axis of evil". Will the Bush administration force Israel to take responsibility, since the ship sailed out of Israel with the approval of the Ministry of Defense, or will Israel, once again, get treated as a state above international law?