Israeli PM involved in nuke trigger smuggling from the US

Netanyahu involved in smuggling nuke triggers: Report
Press TV
Jul 7, 2012

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Credit: PressTV

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was involved in smuggling nuclear triggers out of the United States carried out by a network of front companies, a report says.

According to a Wednesday article posted on antiwar.com, the FBI partially declassified and released additional pages from a 1985-2002 investigation into how a network of front companies connected to the Israeli Ministry for Military Affairs illegally smuggled triggers used for nuclear weapons (krytrons) out of the United States.

         The FBI investigation reveals that Netanyahu worked at Heli Trading Company, 
         the Israeli node of the network during the smuggling operations.

The Israeli premier was in contact with Richard Kelly Smyth, who at the time was president of the MILCO International Inc., a front company for the Israel-based Heli Trading Company, then owned by Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

In April 2002, Smyth was sentenced to 40 months in prison and fined 20,000 dollars for trafficking krytrons, tiny electronic devices that are used in high-speed photography, strobe lighting and photocopying machines, but can also be used in nuclear triggers.

Smyth was also indicted for selling about 800 krytrons to Heli Trading Company (also known as Milchan Limited).

“Smyth and [Netanyahu] would meet in restaurants in Tel Aviv and in [Netanyahu’s] home and/or business,” the FBI report said.

         In March, the co-authors of the book Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned 
        Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan issued a statement saying, “Hollywood mega-
        producer and former secret agent Arnon Milchan has been asked directly by Israeli 
        Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres to avoid any 
        public discussion of the book Confidential, asserting that the matter is too 
        sensitive at this time.”

HSN/MA/IS

Wow, Netanyahu DEMANDS Obama to commit to Iran War

Israeli PM demands Obama commit to military action if Iran sanctions fail
Binyamin Netanyahu pressing for explicit threat from US ahead of crucial meeting with Obama next week in Washington

Chris McGreal
The Guardian
Thursday 1 March 2012 12.43 EST

Israeli officials say that Binyamin Netanyahu is not happy with Obama`s

'vague assertion' that all options are on the table in dealing with Iran. 

Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

(Washington) Israel is pressing Barack Obama for an explicit threat of military action against Iran if sanctions fail and Tehran's nuclear programme advances beyond specified "red lines".

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is expected to raise the issue at a White House meeting on Monday after weeks of intense diplomacy in which Obama has dispatched senior officials – including his intelligence, national security and military chiefs – to Jerusalem to try and dampen down talk of an attack.

Diplomats say that Israel is angered by the Obama administration's public disparaging of early military action against Iran, saying that it weakens the prospect of Tehran taking the warnings from Israel seriously.

The two sides are attempting to agree a joint public statement to paper over the divide but talks will not be made easier by a deepening distrust in which the Israelis...

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