Israel Matzav

And another international 'Bash Israel' forum

Aside from the UN General Assembly, where Israel will face an attempt to create a 'Palestinian state' in our midst, and aside from the Durban III conference alongside the General Assembly, where the World's biggest racists and greatest human rights violators will attempt to label Israel 'racist,' there is a third forum later this month where Israel will face off against an overwhelming majority of the nations of the world: The International Atomic Energy Agency.

Two anti-Israel proposals are expected to be raised during the meeting: One from Egypt calls for increased IAEA inspections throughout the Middle East, and another from a number of Arab states calling on Israel to join a global anti-nuclear weapons treaty. The second resolution was voted down by four votes at last year’s meeting.

Israel Atomic Energy Commission officials said that the Arab states’ resolution was an attempt to single out and isolate Israel in a move that is not within the IAEA’s authority.

“Like last year, Israel will work with its allies to ensure that this resolution does not pass,” the officials said.

Last year, US officials warned that zeroing in on Israel, widely believed to be the region’s only nuclear power, could jeopardize an Egyptian-proposed conference in 2012 to discuss creating a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.

It may also cast a shadow over plans by IAEA Director- General Yukiya Amano to invite both Israel and Arab states to a forum later this year to discuss the experience of other regions where nuclear-weaponsfree zones have been established.

European diplomats have said that they believe Israel will attend those discussions, expected to be held in November in Vienna and seen as a way to help build confidence. But any resolution aimed against the Jewish state at the September 19-23 conference of the IAEA’s 151 member states could harm prospects for the forum, they said.

We're going to need lions lying down with lambs before we can discuss a nuclear free Middle East. This just isn't going to happen. But we'd be happy to talk about it.

By the way, is Iran showing up?

Labels: IAEA, nuclear-free Middle East

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:36 PM