Israel Matzav

Obama trying to force Israel to give up its nukes; UPDATE: 'The most worrisome development'

In yet another blow to Israel, the Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it will attempt to force Israel to give up its policy of 'nuclear ambiguity' - neither admitting nor denying that it has nuclear weapons. That policy has been in effect for more than 40 years.

India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel should join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the global pact meant to limit the spread of atomic weapons, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

Speaking on the second day of a two-week meeting of the 189 signatories of the pact, Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller also defended a U.S.-India civilian nuclear deal, which developing nations have complained rewards New Delhi for staying outside the NPT.

"Universal adherence to the NPT itself, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea ... remains a fundamental objective of the United States," Gottemoeller told the meeting, which hopes to agree on an agenda and plan to overhaul the treaty at a review conference next year.

Speaking to reporters later, she declined to say whether Washington would take any new steps to press Israel to join the treaty and give up any nuclear weapons it has. Israel neither confirms nor denies whether it has what arms control experts assume to be a sizable atomic arsenal.

The administration of President Barack Obama was encouraging all holdouts to join the treaty, she said.

Isn't that just great? To the Obamination that now governs the United States, America's former allies in Jerusalem and New Delhi are morally equivalent to Islamist Pakistan - now coming under the rule of the Taliban - and the North Korean pariah state.

And what about Iran? I'm so glad you asked:

In failing to mention Iran even once in her speech, Gottemoeller broke from a tradition established by the administration of former President George W. Bush, which had used NPT meetings to criticise Iran and North Korea.

Gottemoeller said that Iran came up indirectly in her statement when she spoke of the need for "consequences for those breaking the rules or withdrawing from the treaty."

The American Thinker's Ed Lasky points out the consequences for Israel of giving up on nuclear ambiguity (Hat Tip: Melanie Phillips).

The key to Israel's strategy to avoid another Holocaust has been a policy of ambiguity over the question of whether it has nuclear weapons. Like many high-tech and potent weapons, a nuclear arsenal is best left sheathed. The reluctance of Israel to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NNPT) has allowed it to avoid a raft of intrusive inspections that might blow this policy of ambiguity to smithereens.

As long as Israel was thought to possess nuclear weapons, enemies might be reluctant to try to destroy Israel. During the 1973 War, it was rumored that the mere threat of Israel resorting to nuclear weapons led to a massive resupply effort by America and to the willingness of Israel's enemies to agree to a truce. Surrounded by numerically superior nations -- and an Arab world that can afford to buy the best weapons from around the world -- the rumored possession by Israel of an atomic bomb(s) has probably warded off further warfare and bloodshed.

Every US administration has acquiesced in this policy, seeing it as a sensible of a nation that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust and one that was surrounded by neighbors promising to commit another. There have been winks and nods, even going back to the Kennedy years, about Israel's stance.

Now that policy has finally been threatened -- not by the raft of traditional enemies and international organizations that have always advocated that Israel sign the agreement, but by the Obama administration.

For those who don't get it yet, Lasky points out how this could be used against us:

If this comes to pass and Israel is forced to open itself to inspections and is compelled to admit it has nuclear weapons, this will be used as a cudgel to criticize Israel and will become a rationale for Arab nations (and Iran) to pursue weapons of mass destruction. Obama has opened up a Pandora's Box that should have, in the proper hands, remained closed.

The IAEA's Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief defender of the Iranian and Syria nuclear programs, has been trying to force Israel into the NPT and the inspection regimen for years. So have the Egyptians.

At least Roger Cohen will be pleased with Obama's actions.

Four years seems like an awfully long time, doesn't it? (Let alone eight, God forbid). But America is in good hands. What could go wrong?

UPDATE 8:47 AM

JPost is quoting Dov Weisglass, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's chief strategist, who speaks of this report in an ominous tone:

Former prime minister Ariel Sharon's chief strategist, Dov Weisglass, said Gottemoeller's comments were very alarming.

"If these statements indicate a change in American policy on this issue, I believe this may be the most worrisome development for Israel's security in many years," he told Army Radio.

Indeed.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:09 AM