Israelis held in Jordan on arms-smuggling to Darfur rebels: report
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz
Dec 16, 2004 — Two Israelis have been arrested in Jordan on suspicion of smuggling arms to Sudanese rebels, a London-based Arabic-language newspaper reported Thursday
According to the report in A-Sharq-al-Awsat, and which relies on anonymous Jordanian sources, the unnamed Israeli suspects told investigators that they had connections to various Israeli companies and entities, and mentioned the names of arms dealers Amos Golan and Shimon Naor, among others.
The paper further reported that the two suspects also brought up the son of Labor MK Danny Yatom during questioning in Jordan.
Yatom, a former head of the Mossad intelligence agency, has five children, and although the paper did not specify to which of his children the two suspects referred, the most likely is his 30 year-old son, who served in the Israeli security forces and now owns a company offering security and military training services.
Shimon Naor is an arms dealer who has previously been arrested in Romania for smuggling weapons to the Angolan rebel forces of Dr. Jonas Savimbi.
Amos Golan is known for being an arms dealer active in Africa, particularly in Uganda. He is also the former commander of the Israel Defense Forces school of urban warfare and was a lieutenant colonel in the undercover “Duvdevan” unit. Golan had ties to Meir Dagan before the latter’s appointment as the current head of Mossad.
In response to the report, MK Yatom told Haaretz on Thursday that his son is in no way related to the alleged arms dealers, and had never been connected in any way to the training of Sudanese rebels.
He added that his son did not know Amos Golan or Shimon Naor, and described the entire incident as a “strange” affair for a variety of reasons, including the unspecified identities of the two Israelis involved.
On Wednesday, a New York City businessman admitted to participating in an arms-smuggling ring that shipped missile and fighter jet components from the United States to Israel and possibly on to Iran.