'We didn't know' is not an excuse
There is still a lot we do not know about the case of the Israeli company that allegedly sold strategically valuable electronic surveillance equipment to Iran.
They did not sell directly to Iran, of course. The equipment was sold to a Danish company and somehow ended up in the land of the ayatollahs. Did the Israeli company abide by the law? Did they have knowledge that the final destination of their products would be Iran? Yet another deal that could help Iranian President Mahmoud Abbas breach the economic-technological blockade that the enlightened world is trying to impose on him. We do not know. Theoretically, it is possible that officials in Israel knew where the products were headed.
Israel is obviously active in blocking the transfer of all kinds of products to terror-supporting Iran. Israel even went as far as taking the unorthodox and complex step of reversing a $140 million defense deal with Turkey in the fear that sophisticated Israeli-made equipment would eventually make its way to Tehran.
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The government's official policy on the issue accurately reflects the views of Israeli citizens. Awareness of the danger of such deals was raised with the trial and consequent imprisonment of Nahum Manbar [an Israeli businessman who was convicted of selling chemical weapons to Iran in 1997]. Recently reports linked ships owned by the wealthy Ofer family to Iran. Now this report emerges about Allot Communications, and no one knows how many more reports await us in the future.
Every company in the enlightened world is expected to avoid deals that would bolster Iran's military-nuclear capabilities, but in Israel, the expectation is double. At a time when Jerusalem is pressuring the world to distance itself from Iran and encouraging Congress to demand that the White House impose sanctions on Iran's central bank, every report like this one undermines Israel's efforts to convince the world to tighten sanctions.
Trading with Iran is similar to senior Israeli officials declaring that Iran poses no nuclear threat until 2015 [as former Mossad chief Meir Dagan has stated]. If security officials in Israel are laid back about it, why should America and Europe be concerned? They are not holier than the pope and they do not care about Israel's security more than Israel's own defense establishment. The same goes for trade.
The report implicating Allot Communications needs to be investigated further. For the company to say, "We didn't know" is not a legitimate response, nor a plausible excuse. The law will be enacted as needed. In the meantime, the public needs to keep its eye on those who disregard its interests.
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