Middle East: Israel's Displays Seized Arms Catche, As Tourists Barred Entry To Tunisia

by Benson Agoha

When Israel broke the news last week that its defence forces have seized a ship laden with a large arms catche, reportedly belonging to Iran, the world held its breath.

* IDF soldiers inspect the containers of missiles seized from an Iranian ship on Wednesday, last week.

The arms ship was captured on Wednesday last week and the IDF had since insisted, it was evidence that Iran was sponsoring terrorist activities.

According to the Times of Israel, the seized arms were shown to the world media at a press conference exposing rows of armaments, Mortars, boxes of Bullets and containers of short and long range missiles.

The array of armaments was set up on a military dock at the Red Sea resort town, next to the Hanit boat, which intercepted the arms ship, ToI said.

Weapons on display were reportedly made in Iran, according to the army.

And Irael, which has always insisted that Iran meant more than they are letting out over their weapons programme, say the seized arms a proof of what it has always known and tried to tell the West.

“Each one of these rockets poses a threat to the safety of the citizens of Israel — each bullet and each rocket that was discovered had an Israeli address,” army chief Lieutenant General Benny Gantz reportedly said over the weekend.

The destination of the arms remain a subject of contention, with Hamas and Sudan denying any involvement with the arms ship.

"The Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza, as well as its smaller Islamic Jihad rival, has denied any involvement in the shipment. And Sudan, where Israel said the weapons were to be offloaded before being shipped overland to Gaza via Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, has also denied any involvement." ToI reported.

The seizure appear not to be going down well with Israel's Arab neighbours, with Tunisia reportedly turning back visiting Israeli's onboard a Cruise ship.

The Israeli passengers were told quietly by staff aboard the Norwegian Jade that they were not welcome per the Tunisian government during the stop, B’nai Brith Canada said in a statement made available to ToI reporters.

* Follow me on Twitter(follow): @bensonagoha and @woolwichonline.

* Photo Credit: ToI.