Israel’s Nuclear Double Standard
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
defending the criminal attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, told a CBC reporter
that “Israel cannot be held to a higher standard than other nations.” Indeed, according to Israel, it must be held
to a much lower standard than other nations.
Specifically, Israel claims that for security reasons, it cannot sign
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
On May 29, Israel rejected a unanimous resolution by all 189 NPT
signatories that it sign the pact and make its atomic facilities subject to
inspection by the United Nations.
Israel, while never acknowledging openly it
has nuclear weapons, is widely known to have a large stockpile of nuclear arms
and is the only state in the Middle East which has not signed the NPT. According to a website funded by a
pro-Israeli lobby organization, Israel’s “nuanced” position on nuclear arms is necessary
because “as long as Israel’s security is under constant threat, Israel will not
agree to a treaty that weakens its defence.”
The website further argues “Israel needs a strategic deterrence
capability because it is surrounded by much larger neighbours that are hostile
to its very existence. ...” Despite their very real security concerns, however,
both Iraq and Iran, countries which have been subject to crippling sanctions,
international threats and in the case of Iraq a U.S.-led invasion and overthrow
of its government, over their nuclear programs, have both signed the NPT.
The resolution also singled out Israel for
participation in a 2012 conference that will discuss a nuclear free Middle
East. Israel immediately rejected the
idea, issuing an official statement declaring “As a non-signatory state of the
NPT, Israel is not obligated by the decisions of this conference, which has no
authority over Israel.”
Instead of dealing with Israel’s own nuclear
arsenal, Netanyahu instead insisted the problem in the Middle East is the
countries who have signed the NPT but who are somehow bamboozling international
weapons inspectors and secretly developing their own nuclear weapons. The NPT
does allow for the development of nuclear technology for civilian purposes, and
despite the fear campaign against both Iran and Iraq, there is no evidence that
either nation has been actively working to develop nuclear weapons. Indeed, the so-called evidence that Iraq was
attempting to develop nuclear weapons that was used to justify the U.S.
invasion in 2003 was found to be completely fraudulent.
Still, Netanyahu called the resolution and
proposed conference “flawed” and “hypocritical”, because it singled out
Israel. It would almost be funny if it
wasn’t so ridiculous: it is Israel which has singled itself out by refusing to
sign the NPT.