Time to check Israel's nuclear arms

The Watcher

New Member
Its time for the 4th largest nuclear "power" to bend over...

WASHINGTON — In less than three months, the famed Israeli nuclear whistle-blower, Mordechai Vanunu, who has served more than 17 years in an Israeli jail, 11 of which in harsh solitary confinement, will be released. This likelihood has touched off a hot debate in Israel about the man who spilled Israel's nuclear secrets, 18 years ago, to a London newspaper and who could still do harm to his country once he is free. The Israeli secret service, Mossad, kidnapped the Israeli nuclear scientist after he was lured from London to Italy by an Israeli female agent. At the time, The Sunday Times published several of his photographs and descriptions of weapons from Israel's top-secret Dimona nuclear reactor.

Nowadays, Israel's nuclear weapons, according to the Central Intelligence Agency, number anywhere between 200 and 400, making it the world's fifth largest nuclear power, with more than enough weapons to obliterate “all imaginable targets in most Arab countriesâ€, according to one disarmament researcher. Additionally, a 1993 official report to the US Congress says Israel has “undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities†and is “generally reported as having an undeclared offensive biological warfare programmeâ€. Regardless, only 18.3 per cent of the Israelis have a sense of national security, according to a recent poll; and yet, one in four Israelis believes that the country should give up its “alleged†nuclear arsenal.
Israel remains purposely ambiguous about its nuclear programme, maintaining that it would not be the first to “introduce†nuclear weapons in the region. The UN General Assembly and the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference have adopted 13 resolutions since 1987, appealing to Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), but all have been ignored since they are non-binding.

It is the recent Israeli anxiety that has rekindled some international apprehension about Israel's heretofore “alleged†nuclear programme and increased demands that the Israeli government come clean and tell the truth once and for all. But more importantly, it is the continued American silence, if not acquiescence, which is most troubling in this respect.

A recently published book, Warren Bass' `Support Any Friend, Kennedy's Middle East and the Making of the US-Israeli Alliance', traces early American concern about the Israeli nuclear intentions. “The Israelis were splendidly evasive on the subject,†writes one reviewer, “but it became clear that they were building an atomic bomb, to the vexation of (President John F.) Kennedy, for whom nuclear non-proliferation was a touchstone.â€

The reviewer added: “There was much diplomatic to and fro, with Washington demanding to inspect the site, and in May 1963 Kennedy told (then Israeli Premier David) Ben-Gurion that Dimona seriously jeopardised their relationship.â€

Hogwash. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan was repeatedly evasive last month in response to a reporter's questions at a briefing about whether President George Bush was in favour of international inspections of Israel's nuclear stockpile which, the reporter said matter of factly, was “pretty well knownâ€. McClellan replied: “I don't know that I agree with that, the premise of your question,†and went on to insist that the US has “a long-standing position of universal adherence to the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weaponsâ€. He would add nothing to his hackneyed line when the reporter again asked whether the US was “trying to persuade Israel to sign it and to be open to inspectionsâ€.

A week earlier, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, Mohammad Al Baradei, told Haaretz he believed Israel had nuclear weapons and suggested the stockpile be eliminated to promote Mideast peace. “We work on the assumption that Israel has nuclear capability (and) I haven't seen that Israel ever denied it.â€

Baradei's statements have put a
gaping hole in Israel's so-called “strategic ambiguity†and underlined America's head-in-the-sand approach. How can the Bush administration justify its dogged approach on nuclear and chemical weapons in Iran and Libya, even Syria, yet refuse to raise the question with Israel, which is now capable of launching nuclear attack by air, land and sea where its new submarines have been equipped with modified cruise missiles?
But the most appalling decision has been the Bush administration's lukewarm reaction, to put it mildly, to Syria's proposal at the UN Security Council last week to make the Middle East an area free of weapons of mass destruction and for all the countries in the region to join the NPT. Israel is the only country in the region that has yet to adhere to the treaty.

It is about time the US governments realise that Israel's continued disregard of international inspections will remain a magnet for countries in the region to acquire chemical and biological weapons, if not nuclear arms. And the best way for avoiding this would-be calamity may be in linking nuclear non-proliferation with an all-encompassing Middle East settlement.


Editor's Note:
Its perfectly fair to say that Israel should also go through UN inspections and humiliation that iraq, libya, iran and other nuclear wana be countries went through. It Israel does not comply, it should be bombed and sanctions should be placed to ensure that a war criminal prime minister complies. IF not, then George W. Bush must send in American boys to liberate Israel and rid the world of this growing danger from Israeli Weapons of Mass Destruction.

source
 

Majin-Vegeta

Banned Member
i call it, retardedness..and they say that UN is the law..pffft..UN is just a buncha ppl with guns..show off's -_-

if they even tried to save the world, with all the money in the world..they would FAIL!
 
Top