Israel Matzav: Final assault on Israel? UN General Assembly calls on Israel to allow nuclear inspectors

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Final assault on Israel? UN General Assembly calls on Israel to allow nuclear inspectors

We can thank President Hussein Obama for opening this Pandora's box as well. The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Monday to call on Israel to open its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection. The resolution also expressed support for a now-canceled (although one of the sponsors - Britain - says it's only been postponed) conference of all of the signatories to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. And wait - it gets better.

There were two paragraphs of the resolution that were voted on separately and one of them - to which the US voted in favor! - calls on all countries to immediately join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Only Israel and India voted against that one (Hat Tip: MFS - The Other News).

All the Arab nations and Iran had planned to attend the conference in mid-December in Helsinki, Finland, but the United States announced on Nov. 23 that it wouldn’t take place, citing political turmoil in the region and Iran’s defiant stance on nonproliferation. Iran and some Arab nations countered that the real reason for the cancellation was Israel’s refusal to attend.

The resolution, approved by a vote of 174-6 with 6 abstentions, calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty “without further delay” and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Those voting “no” were Israel, the U.S., Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.

I find it incredible that India did not vote no on this....

Resolutions adopted by the 193-member General Assembly are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion and carry moral and political weight.

Israel refuses to confirm or deny it has nuclear bombs though it is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal. It has refused to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, along with three nuclear weapon states - India, Pakistan and North Korea.

The Arab proposal to create a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free zone in the Mideast, and to pressure Israel to give up its undeclared arsenal of perhaps 80 nuclear warheads, was endorsed at an NPT conference in 1995 but never acted on. In 2010, the 189 parties to the 1970 treaty called for convening a conference in 2012 on the establishment of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East.

The resolution, which was approved by the assembly’s disarmament committee before the conference was cancelled, noted the decision to hold it “with satisfaction.”

The number I have heard is not 80 but 200. And I suppose that there is no point in arguing that Israel has allegedly had nuclear weapons for 50 years, and as the only democracy in the region has not, and is unlikely to introduce their use into the region. This isn't about logic....

While the United States voted against the resolution, it voted in favor of two paragraphs in it that were put to separate votes. Both support universal adherence to the NPT, and call on those countries that aren’t parties to ratify it “at the earliest date.” The only “no” votes on those paragraphs were Israel and India.

Aren't you glad Hussein Obama is still President? What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, IAEA, India, Iran, Israeli nuclear capability, Middle East, Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, United Nations General Assembly