By Kenneth J. Theisen
On Friday, September 18th the United Nations nuclear assembly passed a resolution 49-45 calling on Israel to open its nuclear facilities to UN inspection and to sign up to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The resolution voiced concern about "Israeli nuclear capabilities" and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to take up the volatile issue. Russian and China supported the resolution, while the U.S. opposed it.
David Danieli, the chief Israeli delegate to the IAEA, immediately stated, “Israel will not co-operate in any matter with this resolution which is only aiming at reinforcing political hostilities and lines of division in the Middle East region." While Israel and the U.S. pretend that Israel does not have a nuclear arsenal of weapons, the entire world knows that it does.
Of course we all know that the U.S. is greatly concerned about Middle Eastern nations having nuclear weapons. We constantly hear U.S. officials condemning Iran for having a nuclear energy program that the U.S. claims is merely a cover for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons in the near future. Because of these unproven allegations, Iran has been diplomatically isolated, and had extreme economic sanctions applied against it. U.S. leaders maintain that all options including the military option remain on the table to keep Iran nuke-free. The U.S. keeps telling us that Iran is in violation of the wishes of the international community and the U.N. and that is why the U.S. must do everything necessary to keep Iran from getting a nuke.
So I guess within the next weeks we will hear Obama and other U.S. officials condemning the Israelis as well. Pretty soon we will hear of sanctions that the U.S. will be asking the U.N. to apply against the Israelis. The U.S. will undoubtedly be arming Israel’s neighbors to fend off Israeli military moves. Maybe some U.S. naval task forces will be stationed off the coast of Israel to threaten it. Covert special ops teams will start mounting operations in Israel. This has all occurred in the case of Iran so the U.S. will undoubtedly act the same way against Israel to forestall a Middle East arms race, right?
No! You must understand there are “complexities.” Before the vote, Glyn Davies, the US ambassador to the IAEA, claimed the resolution "is highly politicized and does not address the complexities at play regarding crucial nuclear-related issues in the Middle East". To the U.S. a nuclear armed Israel is okay, while a nuclear armed Iran is a threat to peace. In the last 60 years Israel has attacked all its neighbors repeatedly, while Iran has attacked none first during that time. I was afraid the U.S. and it leaders are hypocrites. I am so glad this is not the case. I guess this is just too complex for me to understand. Please explain it Mr. Davies.