The bill states that anyone who violates the law would be sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of five million shekels, or three times the expected profit - whichever is higher.
It has been speculated that the reason for the bill is the recent political and media storm over the Ofer Brothers Group shipping company, Tanker Pacific, which was accused in the past week of having had its ships docked in Iran.
The story came to light after the United States slapped sanctions on the Ofer Brothers Group over suspicions that it had violated sanctions against trade with Iran.
However, MK Shama Hacohen denied Sunday that he submitted the bill because of the Ofer Brothers affair, saying: “the bill was submitted months ago and its support by the government proves that the uproar over the Tanker Pacific affair is because of Iran and not because of the Ofer Brothers.”
Shama Hacohen added that “Israel must fall in line with the international community led by the U.S., and join in the effort to halt the Iranian nuclear program which threatens our existence.”
Meanwhile, it was still unclear on Sunday why Shama Hacohen had stopped the Finance Committee’s session to discuss the Ofer affair last Tuesday. Shama Hacohen had received a note during the meeting, after which he ended the meeting, but he refused to divulge its contents.
Sources in the Knesset were quoted as saying on Sunday that “there was no legal or defense-related motive to prevent the session from taking place in the Finance Committee.”
The London Times reported Sunday that the Ofer Brothers ships that reportedly docked in Iran were actually carrying IDF choppers for secret missions that may have included surveillance on Iran’s nuclear sites.
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The ships were allegedly owned by the Ofer Brothers, whose senior member Sammy Ofer died on Friday at the age of 89 and is being buried in Israel Sunday afternoon. He served in the Haganah movement during the British Mandate.
If the Times’ report by Richard Silverstein is true, it would be a severe embarrassment for the U.S. State Department as well as Israeli media and politicians who may have prejudged the Ofer Brothers unfairly. The report also may explain why a Knesset committee suddenly suspended without explanation a special session that was called to investigate the allegations against the Ofer Brothers.
Silverstein wrote that the ships that allegedly docked in Iranian ports may have concealed helicopters in special containers and that Israeli may have used the choppers in secret surveillance on Iran’s nuclear sites.
The original allegations were prompted by State Department sanctions on an Ofer Brothers-linked company that allegedly sold an oil tanker to an Iranian firm, in violation of American sanctions.
A subsequent report in Israeli media charged that another subsidiary of the Ofer Brothers empire docked oil tankers several times at Iranian ports between 2004 and 2010.
