\n An Israeli grain importer has said it will not receive the cargo of a ship allegedly carrying stolen Ukraine grain after the vessel became the focus of a major diplomatic spat between the two countries.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Israel Grain Importers Association said that the cargo \u2013 which Kyiv says was stolen by Russia from occupied Ukrainian territories and had been scheduled to be unloaded at the port of Haifa \u2013 would need to go elsewhere.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe Russian supplier of the wheat shipment will be required to find an alternative destination for its discharge\u201d, the association said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n
\n MarineTraffic tracking data showed the bulk carrier Panormitis sailing away from the port of Haifa on Wednesday afternoon, though it was not immediately clear where the ship might be headed.\n <\/p>\n
\n The decision follows days of escalating tensions between Ukraine and Israel following the arrival of Panormitis in the Bay of Haifa last weekend .\n <\/p>\n
\n On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Israel of knowingly allowing previous shipments of allegedly stolen grain to be unloaded and warned of possible sanctions against those involved if the practice continued.\n <\/p>\n
\n Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry pushed backed, claiming Ukraine had delayed submitting formal paperwork and evidence, before later adding that the request was under examination.\n <\/p>\n
\n A spokesperson for the Grain Importers association told CNN that the import company, Zenziper, was unaware of any irregularities regarding the shipment and had learned of the claims through media reports.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe company sought government guidance but with no clear directive decided to reject the shipment independently, despite the risk of legal action from the supplier,\u201d the spokesperson said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha hailed what he called a welcome development and said it sent a clear signal to other shipping companies and governments to stay away from stolen Ukrainian grain.\n <\/p>\n
\n Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry appeared to distance itself from any suggestion it had caved to pressure, instead saying that Ukraine\u2019s most recent request for legal assistance \u201ccontained significant factual gaps and did not include any supporting evidence [that the grain was stolen].\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago, Kyiv has consistently accused Moscow of the systematic looting of its agricultural resources \u2013 the true origin of which it says is hidden when the stolen grain is sold on world markets.\n <\/p>\n
\n According to an investigative report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, at least four shipments of illegal grain have docked in Israel this year. The report added that such deliveries have been ongoing since 2023, with the total number reaching over 30.\n <\/p>\n
\n The European Union also weighed in earlier this week, requesting additional information from Israeli authorities on the alleged imports and warning it may impose sanctions on those involved as well.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe condemn all actions that help fund Russia\u2019s illegal war effort and circumvent EU sanctions and remain ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities in third countries, if necessary,\u201d an EU spokesman told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n Israel and Ukraine\u2019s relations have been persistently tense since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022. Israeli leaders have sought to keep channels open with both Kyiv and Moscow, limiting military assistance to Ukraine mainly to non-lethal humanitarian aid, and rejecting pressure to transfer Israeli-made weapons systems and arms to Kyiv.\n <\/p>\n
\n More recently, Ukraine has positioned itself as a regional security provider in the Middle East, offering partnerships and expertise in drone defense in particular, after Israel and the United States launched their war on Iran.\n <\/p>\n
\n Zelensky himself visited Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan last month, but did not make a stop in Israel.\n <\/p>\n
\n Victoria Butenko and Kosta Gak contributed reporting from Kyiv\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Israeli grain importer has said it will not receive the cargo of a ship allegedly carrying stolen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-418723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}