Does Anti-Nuke Mean Anti-Israel?

According to the US and Israel, it does.

In a rare vote, the UN General Assembly passed a UN atomic watchdog resolution calling on all Middle East nations to renounce atomic weapons. Since the US and the West have been pushing to stop nuclear proliferation in the region, especially Iran, you would think they would have supported and applauded the vote.

Not so. The US, Israel, and most of the EU either opposed or abstained on the vote. On the other hand, most Arab nations and Iran supported it.

So what’s the problem?

One clause urged all nations in the Middle East, pending creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone (NWFZ) there, not to make or test nuclear arms or let them be deployed on their soil. The other urged big nuclear arms powers not to foil such a step. “The new language threatened to bring new political issues into the IAEA that would ultimately detract from the technical role the IAEA plays in safeguarding nuclear material,” said a Western diplomat whose delegation abstained.

That argument is not only faulty, it is empty. The only nation in the Mideast to possess a nuclear arsenal is Israel. And the nation with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world that is not subject to IAEA inspection is, again, Israel. That is because Israel has refused to sign any international nuclear treaties.

I don’t understand the double standard. I am Jewish, but I don’t believe that Israel has special rights to possess Weapons of Mass Destruction while at the same time threatening to attack nations that may desire the same.

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6:04 pm on September 20, 2007