Imagine for a moment that the person who lives next door to you is planning a murder, and you know about it. For months, you have watched him with suspicion. You videotape him bringing in guns, ammunition and vast quantities of fertilizer and gasoline. Yet when you tell the police, you get nothing more than a shoulder shrug. Who cares?

Seem a bit unrealistic? Perhaps, but the nation of Israel experienced something similar last week.

Israeli Navy commandos intercepted a shipment of missiles on March 5 that was destined to end up in terrorist hands. For months, Israel watched the shipment slowly creep around the Middle East toward its final destination in Gaza, where the missiles would be launched to murder Israelis in their homes.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the intended recipient was Hamas. However, Hamas obtaining missiles is not the key issue. The greater problem revolves around who the real murderer is in this scenario. Hamas only has power as long as it is supplied with cash, weapons and training from Iran. Iran is the neighbor Israel sees over the picket fence, plotting murder.

It all began when Israel spied a shipment of M-302 weapons coming out of Syria, en route to Iran. It was odd because weapon shipments usually travel the other direction. So Operation Full Disclosure was born. The name says it all. Israel intended to use the operation to not only capture the weapons, but also to show that Iran is not the friendly, smiling neighbor the world believes it to be.

From start to finish, Israel documented the operation. Everything was filmed, from the Israeli interception team setting sail, to the boarding of the cargo ship, to the eventual docking and transportation of the weapons in the Israeli port city of Eilat.

The Israel Defense Forces tracked the weapons as they were flown to Iran from Syria, where they were loaded onto a cargo ship. From there they went to Iraq, before sailing back to the Arabian Sea and into the Red Sea where they were intercepted. idf officials said that had they been offloaded in Port Sudan, the weapons would have been transported by land through Egypt, into the waiting arms of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel took the time to map out the journey in detail to show Iran’s involvement. The bizarre route reveals the effort Iran took to ensure its involvement in the smuggling remained concealed.

When Israel released the gag order for media coverage of the operation, it undoubtedly expected far more than the mere shrug that the story received. Barely a response came from the international community. And not even a shrug from America, supposedly the world’s policeman.

Israel has repeatedly tried to expose Iran’s weapons smuggling with numerous weapons shipments seized over the years. Unfortunately, the efforts have gone relatively unnoticed. Right now, the world is preoccupied trying to stop Iran from building nuclear missiles. However, these smaller, seemingly inferior weapons being shipped by Iran shouldn’t be underestimated.

The Syrian-made M-302 rockets, found aboard the civilian vessel Klos C, represent a dangerous trend in weapons shipments to Gaza. Israel has intercepted deadly cargo from Iran in the past, but it usually consists of light arms, mortars and 122/220mm rockets. Now Hamas is acquiring far more advanced firepower. The M-302 has been tested at distances between 60 and 130 miles (100 and 210 km). Such a range puts Israeli cities such as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Eilat in range.

But other than Israel, does anyone care?

Nobody wants to speak ill of Iran. No one wants to risk causing the country to leave the nuclear negotiations. Everyone would prefer to pretend Iran is just an eccentric neighbor next door. But beyond the smiles lies a far more sinister personality!

“I’ve heard a few faint condemnations of Iran from the international community after we intercepted this murderous shipment,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We even saw representatives of the world powers shaking hands with the heads of Iran’s regime, at the same time we unloaded these missiles here in Eilat.”

The world refuses to recognize the danger of Iran, and a compliant media downplays Iranian action that doesn’t gel with the current “moderate” image it projects. In doing so, world leaders reject obvious facts, as well as Bible prophecy.

Daniel 11:40 prophesies of a coming “king of the south,” Iran leading a conglomerate of Islamic nations. (This is explained in our booklet The King of the South.) This king will push at other world powers with its aggressive policies. We see much of that push today as Iran works to gain nuclear technology, becoming an even greater threat to world peace. Nations are ignoring Iran’s extremist nature, playing along with the facade. But keep watching. The king of the south will keep pushing, rising in power until it cannot be ignored.

In the meantime, Israel will keep trying to warn the world to the dangers of thinking Iran is a friendly neighbor. And the world will keep shrugging its shoulders—until exploding bombs forces it to face reality.