U.S. seeks ship to move arms to Israel 09 Jan 2009 23:05:52 GMT Source: Reuters By Stefano Ambrogi LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tonnes of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January. A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions explosive substances and detonators, but no other details were given. "Shipping 3,000-odd tonnes of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity. "This (kind of request) is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of it quoted in the market over the years," he added. The U.S. Defense Department, contacted by Reuters on Friday in Washington, had no immediate comment. The MSC transports armour and military supplies for the U.S. armed forces aboard its own fleet, but regularly hires merchant ships if logistics so require. The request for the ship was made on Dec. 31, with the first leg of the charter to arrive no later than January 25 and the second at the end of the month. The tender for the vessel follows the hiring of a commercial ship to carry a much larger consignment of ordnance in December from the United States to Israel ahead of air strikes in the Gaza Strip. A German shipping firm which won that tender confirmed the order when contacted by Reuters but declined to comment further. CHARTERS "RARE" Shipping brokers in London who have specialised in moving arms for the British and U.S. military in the past said such ship charters to Israel were rare. Israel is one of America's closest allies and both nations regularly sell arms to each other. A senior military analyst in London who declined to be named said that, because of the timing, the shipments could be "irregular" and linked to the Gaza offensive. The ship hired by the MSC in December was for a much larger cargo of arms, tender documents showed. That stipulated a ship to be chartered for 42 days capable of carrying 989 standard 20-foot containers from Sunny Point, North Carolina to Ashdod. The tender document said the vessel had to be capable of "carrying 5.8 million pounds (2.6 million kg) of net explosive weight", which specialist brokers said was a very large quantity. The ship was requested early last month to load on December 15. In September, the U.S. Congress aproved the sale of 1,000 bunker-buster missiles to Israel. The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world. The Jerusalem Post, citing defence officials, reported last week that a first shipment of the missiles had arrived in early December and they were used in pentetrating Hamas's underground rocket launcher sites. (Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; editing by Michael Roddy) http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L9736369.htm
yep, there's nothing more important for us to do right now than give free weapons to Israel so they can murder more children.. 250 dead children aren't enough..
Wish some of these billions that Israel gets would be used to help out the infrastructure and people in America.
if you don't pay taxes to your country to fund holocausts in Gaza then are you on our side or the terrorist's? Funny that people here are still worried about 'terrorists' and not the corrupt government, meanwhile tons of people in Europe are rebelling on the streets.
I'll tell you whats even more disgusting buddy. Every time a Palestinian goes as far to sneeze on Israel, the holocaust card is used as a means for justification in attack. You speak up against Israel's abominable human rights violations, and you come off as anti-semitic. Thats whats disgusting
1. I may be a fellow Rockets fan, but I'm not your buddy. 2. I've never personally pulled the "Holocaust Card" on this site. Although I would like to ask you which side calls for the elimination of the other nation in it's charter. 3. When the arab/muslim countries can fix their human rights violations in their own countries, then they can continue with their nonsensical ramblings without being hypocrites. 4. Read in the "Israel's Insanity" thread where I said I was sick and tired of defending Israeli political and military policy with the Palestinians. However, nobody can tell them how to keep their citizens secure. I wouldn't feel safe in a place that has seen thousands of rockets get shot at it in the past 8 years.
Right, and similarly, I suppose no one can tell Hamas "how" to keep Palestinians secure. In the name of defending your people, anything goes apparently.
can't believe that I dignify this garbage with a response but... holocaust- "Great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life, especially by fire." The Holocaust- "The genocide of European Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II"
If you would like to put Hamas and Israel on the same level, then you can agree that firing missiles is an act of war and Israel has acted accordingly.
Edited for your viewing pleasure: Stop comparing the war between Hamas and Israel to a holocaust... It's disgusting.
Whether you capitalize "holocaust" or not its a very loaded term and inevitably will be considered to be a comparison to the Nazi extermination of Jews during WWII. In this case if you are trying to be specific it doesn't apply since the Israelis aren't using fire as a primary weapon to kill Palestinians. Either way I don't think using a term like "holocaust" to describe what's going on adds much except as inflammatory rhetoric.
You're wasting your time. Most of these type of anti-Israeli posters (Red Chocolate, Kwame, insame man...) are either too young, too uninformed, or too politicized to understand or care.
I haven't seen Israel's charter. Can you show it to me? I'm interested to see it. Is there a Jewish influence in there? I also don't get how expansion is part of self-defense. Can you explain that too please? I fully agree though that no one should be told how to keep their citizens secure.
If Israel wants to play at the same level as Syria, Lebanon and Iran then maybe the US should stop sending arms down there. Certain extreme Arab nations are being hypocritical but they are justified in rambling because Israel is rightfully being treated to a double standard.
1. 'Then I'm not your buddy, guy!' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5uzJVkeaUI 2. And I'd like to ask you which side's actions speak louder than there call for the elimination of said state? If Hamas is calling for the elimination of Israel, then its actions are minuscule compared to that. What is it, like 20 deaths in Israel over the past 10 years? Meanwhile, Israel calls it self-defense to kill 800 people in 2 weeks. 3. What do other arab/muslim countries have to do with this? Which ones are you speaking? The non-democratic ones? The ones with Shariah Law established? 4. Re-read the bolded part. Hamas won through democracy and that only pissed Israel off. An economic blockade that collectively punishes 1.4 million people is not a legitimate response to Hamas' rise to power. How can Israel tell Hamas, the legit political power in Gaza, that it doesn't have a right to protect the 1.4 million citizens from the blockade THEY imposed on them? Israel instigated a fight and cries self-defense.
