Israel Matzav

Effect of North Korean nuclear weapons on Israel

As I'm sure most of you already know, North Korea successfully tested a nuclear weapon this morning Korean time. This does affect Israel, because North Korea, Iran and Syria are all part of the same 'axis of evil.'

The JPost interviewed the former head of Israel's atomic energy commission, Uzi Eilam. While I believe that his call for sanctions is understated and largely useless (even if they are universally followed, sanctions aren't going to influence a dictatorship that could care less if its people starve), what he says about the significance of this event is right on the money:

According to Eilam, "The cause for concern is three-fold. First, as a world democracy, it should be concerned by the threat a North Korean nuclear capability poses to the entire world. Second, It is certainly possible that Pyongyang would share its nuclear know-how with Iran, in return for a sizeable financial reward. North Korea's nuclear program is far more advanced than Iran's. While Iran has only started to produce fissile material, North Korea has done so at least five years ago."

"Third, Syria, which is also under heavy international pressure, could look at the North Korean example and decide to actively push for its own nuclear capability, taking into account that it would be a great deterrent to alleviate the pressure and get the international community off its back," Eilam said.

"Today's experiment means that the North Koreans have successfully produced a device whose core is the heart of a nuclear bomb. In order to reach that level, it must be integrated in a weapons system, whether a bomb or a missile warhead. Since it is known that they have been working on missile technology for many years, it is not unforeseeable that North Korea could achieve nuclear weapons capability in 1-2 years."

"The international community's response to the North Korean test," Eilam asserts, "is of the utmost importance. The Security Council must impose much harsher sanctions on Pyongyang."

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Dr. Soli Shahar, a Haifa University expert on Iran, makes the connection between North Korea and Iran. Shahar

is convinced that economic sanctions would not be an effective deterrent against Iran's nuclear ambitions. "The only option I see is a serious effort [to affect] a regime change," he told Israel Radio.

The fact that North Korea reached such an advanced stage in nuclear experimentation - and Monday morning's experiment was still not tantamount to nuclear weapons capability - could be a strong hint to the Iranians that they are on the right track with their nuclear program, Shahvar said.

"The Iranians are very certain of their direction," Shahvar continued, and said that he "wouldn't rule out" the possibility that Iranian representatives had been present at North Korea's experiment.

North Korea, Shahvar said, is much worse off economically than Iran, which has plentiful energy resources and profits by them. Those same energy resources, he continued, provide the West with a much stronger incentive for cooperation with Iran that with North Korea.

"North Korea's nuclear experiment must alert the entire world that the next nuclear weapons test could be conducted by Iran," Shahvar warned.

Four weeks from tomorrow, Americans go to the polls. If dhimmified Democrats like Ned Lamont are elected, the world may not be a pleasant place in a couple of years.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:05 PM