Israel’s billionaire Ofer brothers are facing a mounting political backlash in their home country, amid allegations that a shipping group that forms part of their business empire repeatedly engaged in commercial activities with Iran.
Israel has long been at the forefront of the diplomatic campaign against Iran, and has repeatedly called for tougher sanctions against Tehran. News that one the country’s most prominent business groups may have benefited from trading with Iran has therefore come as a shock to many Israelis.
The Ofer Brothers Group was named by the US state department last week as one of seven companies punished for “their activities in support of Iran’s energy sector” under the Iran Sanctions Act. Washington said the group was involved in providing a tanker worth $8.65m to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, a company designated by both the US and the European Union “for its role in supporting Iran’s proliferation activities”.
On Sunday, the Israeli group attracted fresh criticism, after it emerged that several tanker vessels part-owned by one of the Ofer brothers had repeatedly transported oil and petroleum products to and from “various ports in Iran”.
Tanker Pacific Management, the Singapore-based company that manages the tankers in question, said the Iranian charters formed only “a small part of our business”, and did not violate any rules and regulations.
According to one person close to the Ofer family, the vessels that sailed to Iran were the property of a Monaco-based group called Samama, which is part-owned by Sammy Ofer. His younger brother Yuli has no economic interest in the company, the person added. The octogenarian siblings are cited by Forbes magazine as the richest men in Israel, with interests in shipping, chemicals, real estate and a variety of business worth $10.3bn in total.
Many of their business interests are held jointly, but they also control some stakes individually. The Ofer brothers’ spokesman declined to comment.
The Singaporean company said that the shipments to and from Iran were legal at the time. In compliance with a new unilateral US sanctions regime that came into force in July 2010, Tanker Pacific Management stopped transporting refined petroleum products to Iran last year. The group said that in November, it halted loading crude at Iranian ports altogether, even though that particular activity remains legal.
Yet while the transport of goods to Iran were legal at the time, the shipments did take place at a moment when Israeli officials were engaged in an intense diplomatic effort aimed at sharpening the international sanction regime against Iran. That point was made repeatedly in the Israeli media, as commentators voiced surprise and dismay at the US move and subsequent revelations.
“[The] alleged sale of a ship to Iran evokes bewilderment and embarrassment,” said an editorial in the Haaretz daily.
The paper pointed the finger of blame not only at the shipping group, but also at the prime minister’s office, the ministers of defence, finance and foreign affairs, military intelligence, the Mossad spy agency and the navy, asking: “Where were they all when Israel was making a mockery of its own demands that the world fight Iran’s military nuclearisation?”
Aryeh Eldad, an Israeli member of parliament, called for a criminal probe against the brothers. “The Ofer brothers are not above the law despite their wealth,” he said.