Israeli Soldiers Shoot at Protesters on Syrian Border

Wave after wave of protesters, mainly Palestinians from refugee camps in Syria, approached the frontier with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israeli soldiers opened fire on those who crossed a new trench and tried to attack the border fence near the towns of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and Quneitra in Syria.

By nightfall, the Syrian news agency SANA reported that 22 protesters had been killed and more than 350 had been wounded. Israeli officials said that they had no information on casualties but suggested that the Syrian figures were exaggerated.

Even so, it was the worst bloodshed in the Golan Heights since Israel and Syria fought a war there in 1973.

The protest, on the anniversary of the start of the 1967 Middle East war, followed a larger, coordinated assault by demonstrators three weeks ago on four fronts — Syria, Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank — and attempts on two others, Egypt and Jordan, that were thwarted by those governments.

This time, Lebanon and the Hamas government in Gaza kept protesters away from their borders, and the turnout was low in the West Bank.

The focus was on Syria, where thousands of protesters tried to force their way across the border. Syria’s decision to allow the protest appeared to reflect a calculated strategy to divert attention from its own antigovernment uprising.

Still, the protesters said they counted the day a success because they drew Israeli fire on unarmed demonstrators, generating outrage at Israel. At a time when the peace process is already strained, that reaction is likely to increase international pressure on Israel to create the conditions for resumed negotiations with the Palestinians, and to bolster support in the United Nations for the Palestinian appeal for statehood.

The young protesters, disillusioned with the stymied peace talks and continued Israeli settlement building, say they believe they have hit on a new tactic that at least achieves something, if at a cost, and they intend to repeat it.

“The plan is to clash with the soldiers now,” said Muhammad Abu al-Nassar, 25, who was protesting at a West Bank checkpoint. “We believe that unarmed popular resistance is the best form of ending the occupation.”

Israeli officials, who say they tried every nonlethal method of crowd control at their disposal before resorting to live fire, worry about being cast as the villain but admit they are in a bind.

“What would any country do if people from an enemy country were marching on its borders?” asked Dan Gillerman, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. “We tried all other possible means to stop them.”

At the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not allow “extremist elements” to penetrate Israel’s borders. “I have instructed the security forces to act with determination, with maximum restraint, but with determination to maintain our sovereignty, our borders, our communities and our citizens,” he said.

A military spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, said that Israeli forces warned the protesters not to approach the border, in Arabic with megaphones; used nonlethal riot dispersal means like tear gas, which failed to deter them; and then fired warning shots in the air.

When the demonstrators reached the fence, soldiers were “left with no choice,” she said, “but to open fire at the feet of the protesters.”

Syria’s role also creates a quandary for Israel. Although the countries technically remain in a state of war, Syria has kept the border quiet for 37 years.

Protesters there could not have approached the border without government acquiescence, and analysts said the decision to allow the protest was aimed at deflecting attention from the protests sweeping Syria against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“I would note that these protests were carried live on Syrian television” an Israeli official said. “They do not carry the protests against their own regime live. They made a decision to try to exploit this for their own purposes.”

The official spoke anonymously because, he said, Israel did not want to allow the protests to stoke tensions with Syria.

But even revived peace talks with the Palestinians would be unlikely to alter Mr. Assad’s calculations.

Rina Castelnuovo contributed reporting from Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, and Fares Akram from Gaza.

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Sammy Ofer, Magnate and Israeli Power Broker, Dies at 89

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A spokeswoman for the family said he had died after a serious illness. The family provided no further details.

Mr. Ofer bought his first small cargo ship in the 1950s and built a vast global shipping enterprise, his fleets ranging from tankers to cruise lines, and he had interests in banking and real estate. The Forbes list of world billionaires listed his family as 79th, and Israel’s wealthiest, with a net worth of $10.3 billion.

It is, according to the Ofer Group’s Web site, “a classic tale of a family’s journey from rags to riches.”

It is also a tale tainted by scandal and intrigue.

Although media-shy, Mr. Ofer often made headlines in Israel for his business dealings, and was sometimes assailed for being part of a business elite that critics say wields disproportionate power. The Ofers are among about 20 families who together control 25 percent of the country’s exchange-listed companies.

But the biggest scandal broke two weeks ago, when allegations surfaced that the Ofer family empire was doing business with Iran, Israel’s arch-enemy.

The United States State Department announced on May 24 that it was imposing penalties on the company for violating American sanctions against Iran. The State Department said the Ofer Group’s Singapore subsidiary, Tanker Pacific, sold a ship to Iran in September 2010 for millions of dollars.

Tanker Pacific has denied knowing that the buyer was an Iranian front company.

Days later, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that at least 13 Tanker Pacific ships had docked in Iran over the past decade.

Tanker Pacific confirmed that its ships had docked in Iranian ports over the years, transporting refined oil and petroleum products, which the company said was permitted under international rules. It said that it ceased such trading in 2010 when new American restrictions took effect and that it stopped loading crude oil at Iranian ports in late 2010.

The Ofer family remained silent, but anonymous associates began hinting that the Ofers were not only after money, but had also been providing secret services to the State of Israel.

Adding to the mystery, Meir Dagan, Israel’s recently retired Mossad intelligence agency chief, has weighed in on the Ofer family’s behalf, saying he believed that the whole affair had been blown out of proportion and that the family had not broken any laws.

The Israeli news media have reveled in exposing links between Ofer-owned companies and former or would-be figures in the Israeli military establishment, and some critics accused the Ofers of trying to create a smokescreen of security ties to legitimize questionable dealings.

Ofer family associates have suggested that Israel had given the family permission to dock their ships in Iran. The prime minister’s office issued a statement last week saying there was no such authorization.

In a separate statement after Mr. Ofer’s death, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr. Ofer for his contributions to the Israeli economy and society.

“Ofer was a true Zionist,” Mr. Netanyahu said, who even at the peaks of achievement never forgot his obligation to others.

Sammy Hershkovitz was born on Feb. 22, 1922, in Galatz, Romania, and moved with his family to Haifa, then in the British Mandate of Palestine, at age 2. His family later changed its name to the Hebrew name Ofer.

Mr. Ofer joined a shipping agency in Haifa, and served in the British Royal Navy on board a minesweeper during World War II. He then served as an officer in the Israeli Navy. Mr. Ofer and his brother Yehuda, known as Yuli, joined their father’s chandlery business after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and started their own shipping company in the 1950s.

Mr. Ofer lived much of his life in Monaco, but returned to Israel in recent years.

In his later years, Mr. Ofer became an avid art collector and a renowned philanthropist. The family said he had donated more than $100 million for hospitals and other facilities and charities in Israel.

In 2006, he withdrew a planned $20 million donation to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art after other donors and some members of the public objected to renaming the museum for him and his wife. The couple placed advertisements explaining their decision in the Israeli newspapers under the headline: “Excuse us for wanting to make a donation.”

He had deep connections with the London shipping community, and in 2008 donated $39 million to the National Maritime Museum of Greenwich. That same year, he was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to British maritime heritage.

Mr. Ofer is survived by his wife, Aviva; his sons, Eyal and Idan, who run the family businesses; eight grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

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Israeli Strike on Iran Would Be ‘Stupid,’ Ex-Spy Chief Says

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he intelligence official, Meir Dagan, who retired in early January after eight years as director of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, made the remarks at a conference here on Friday. His assessment contradicts the policy of the country’s political leaders, who have long argued in favor of a credible military option against Iran’s nuclear program.

The defense minister, Ehud Barak, criticized Mr. Dagan after his comments were widely publicized in the Israeli news media on Sunday.

Mr. Barak, saying that Mr. Dagan deserved credit for his contributions to state security, contended that he was “not wise to share his thoughts, legitimate as they may be,” with the general public.

“In the end of the day, these issues and decisions belong by their nature to the political echelon,” Mr. Barak said, adding that he was not sure that Mr. Dagan’s assessment was correct.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Israeli, American and European officials believe that it is intended to produce nuclear weapons.

Independent analysts said that such a public stand by a respected figure like Mr. Dagan would complicate any plans the government might have to attack Iran.

Mr. Dagan, speaking for the first time in public since his retirement, was addressing a conference of senior public servants. His remarks were confirmed by a person who attended the conference, which was held at Belgium House, the faculty club of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Mr. Dagan is known to have long opposed military action against Iran, but he had never said so publicly. Mr. Dagan, who also said Friday that Iran must not be allowed to produce nuclear weapons, has advocated covert means of setting back the Iranian program.

Israel considers the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat.

Speaking last week at a ceremony marking Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the world to “unequivocally condemn those who call for the obliteration of the Jewish state.”

“Iran is even arming itself with nuclear weapons to realize that goal, and until now the world has not stopped it,” he said. “The threat to our existence, to our future, is not theoretical. It cannot be swept under the carpet; it cannot be reduced. It faces us and all humanity, and it must be thwarted.”

It is not the first time that Mr. Dagan has courted controversy where Iran is concerned since he left office. In January, he told a group of Israeli reporters that he believed Iran would not be able to build a nuclear weapon before 2015, a year or more later than other Israeli estimates.

His revised assessment was based on obstacles that Iran has faced, including technical difficulties and covert actions against its nuclear program by intelligence agencies, according to Israeli news reports.

Some Israeli officials reacted furiously, worried that Mr. Dagan’s comments could reduce pressure on Iran.

But other Israelis, including two other former leaders of Mossad, said it was important for Mr. Dagan to be able to express his opinion. One official, who spoke at the time on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s delicacy, said, “It has never been about when exactly they will get the device.”

The real challenge over the next 12 to 18 months, the official said, is to prevent Iran from reaching the threshold of nuclear weapons capability. An unexpected technological breakthrough in Iran is possible, he said.

Arguing that this was a time for more diplomatic pressure, not less, the official said that Mr. Dagan’s 2015 assessment might have been partly intended to quiet the drums of war, but that it was nevertheless “really unfortunate.”