Would you believe it ? After four years of the Channel 2000's boat being off the Tel-Aviv coast without one single photo being taken of it, and after Martin and I published the first ever photos of the King David as a radio ship, the Hebrew daily "Yediot Achronot" published a colour photo of the ship on its middle pages today along with this facinating article:

WHAT LIES BEHIND THE MYSTERIOUS PANAMANIAN SHIP THAT HAS "SETTLED" OFF THE TEL-AVIV COAST ?

The ship is not lit, and endangers shipping that pass by it. The crew on board denied shipping officials to board the ship.

A new hazard off the Tel-Aviv coast: A mysterious ship is anchored there, and is causing a hazard to shipping that pass by the area at night because the ship is not lit up. The ship is anchored six kilometers from the coast, and the Transport Ministry checked out to who the ship belongs to. They found out that the ship is registered as the "King David" and flies the Panamanian flag. On the ship are just a few crew members.

What they did not manage to find out was who are the ships owners? They suspect that the ship was once used to house a pirate radio station, and its mysterious owner plans to sink the ship off the Tel-Aviv coast. This action, say the Transport Ministry, is against the Israeli and international law . The depth of the water is only thirty meters where the ship is anchored, and if the ship is scuttled there, passing ships could collide with it.

The shipping and port authority of the Transport Ministry, along with a police escort, went out to the ship to see what is going on with the vessel, but the crew did not let them on board, even though this is against the law (the ship is in Israeli waters: MB ).

Head of the Authority, Arie Rona, turned to the Transport Ministries legal adviser, so that they should act together with the police. The officials will probably return to the ship together with a large police contingent, and if again they are denied access to board the ship, they will board by force.

Should I tell the authorities who the ship belongs to ?

King David runs aground

The King David, the ship that housed the former Arutz 2000 offshore radio station, ran aground in heavy storms that hit Israel yesterday. In a picture that appeared in the Hebrew daily "Maariv", there was a picture that was printed with the caption "fishing boat runs aground on the Tel Baruch beach". It was with a collection of pictures that were printed to show the damage the storm caused in and off Israel.

After looking at the "fishing boat", I noticed that it looked familiar, and after looking at the picture a little closer, was convinced that it was the King David. I could make out the lightship tower, (which had thick cables coming from it, and there was no antenna!), and the guard rails on the back of the ship. Add to this, the rust that was so evident when Martin and I went out to the ships in November, showed up in the colour picture.

The ships antenna must of been ripped off of its base, and the ship ran aground on a Tel-Aviv beach. I have written to the editor of Maariv to inform him of the true identity of the "fishing boat" that ran aground.

So at the begining of a new century / milennium, the world has only one fully operational true offshore radio station - Arutz 7 - which, despite all the bad weather, continues to broadcast as normal.

The sad end of the radioship King David

On Thursday January 13th I took the following pictures of the radioship King David (formerly housing Arutz 2000) that had run aground at Tel Baruch beach on January 5th 2000. Another boat that didn´t fulfill the dreams...

Paul Rusling commented: Faint chance she is salvable however, but beam-on to the beach like that suggests potential problems. The ships are designed to "take the ground" however and skeletal structure doesn´t usually result from such accurences. I note from the damage to paintwork at the two emergency anchor slots that they must have been using those and not the main anchor hole. Certainly not a good idea in a storm and one reason she probably turned wrongly and came "off the hook". Why oh why don´t these operations use proper mariners?!