Capture of Iran ship fails to make waves

“There are those in the international community who would not want us to hold this event,” the Prime Minister said. “It’s hard for them that we are revealing the truth behind Iran’s false smiles.”

Without specifically mentioning Baroness Catherine Ashton, who this week visited Tehran and met Iran’s leaders, Mr Netanyahu criticised her, saying: “Ignoring the capture of this ship is further evidence for the age of hypocrisy in which we live. We have witnessed the West’s representatives shaking hands with the Iranian regime while these missiles were being off-loaded in Eilat. Yet when we build a balcony in Jerusalem, we hear a chorus of condemnation.”

Mr Netanyahu’s frustration at the relative lack of international interest in the shipment was palpable. The Netanyahu-supporting freesheet, Yisrael Hayom, ran a headline on Tuesday asking: “Do you need more proof?” But with an ongoing crisis in Crimea and the disappearance of a Malaysian airliner, the Gaza-bound missiles received scant attention.

The Prime Minister’s Office had gone to great lengths to generate interest from the international media, including chartering a flight to take journalists to Eilat. The response was less than enthusiastic. “We reported on the shipment’s capture,” said one representative of a large media organisation. “But we didn’t send anyone down to Eilat because it was just a dog-and-pony show, nothing new was said there.”