by Stephen Lendman

On August 3, Haaretz reported on a resolution proposed by Egypt and other regional states to monitor Israeli nuclear sites - to be voted on at the IAEA’s mid-September general conference.

The nonbinding resolution titled “Israeli nuclear capabilities” was introduced several times earlier without success. “It condemns Israel, demands that it open its reported nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection, and calls for an international conference on making the Middle East a nuclear-weapons-free zone,” said Haaretz. It cited an unnamed senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official saying it’ll be harder to defeat it this time following the Iran nuclear deal.

The whole world knows Israel is nuclear armed and dangerous - its capability dating back to the 1950s. It maintains nuclear ambiguity, neither revealing or denying its program.

Its Foreign Ministry instructed its embassies and consulates worldwide to pressure host governments to oppose the resolution, saying:

It’s “fundamentally biased and mistaken, aimed at diverting global attention from the real dangers of nuclear proliferation in this region. (It’ll) further politicize the IAEA and undermine the trust necessary for any regional dialogue on this issue.”

Earlier this year, “Egypt and Iran proposed a similar resolution at the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference,” Haaretz explained.

Washington, Britain and Canada blocked it. On July 31, the London Guardian published Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s commentary titled “Iran has signed a historic nuclear deal - now it’s Israel’s turn,” saying:

Agreement in Vienna “is not a ceiling but a solid foundation on which we must build…Now is the high time that we” make the Middle East a nuclear free zone.

Israel is the region’s “only nuclear weapons” power. It refuses to reveal it longstanding program or permit inspections of its sites. It’s high time its “holdout” status ends.

It maintains “an undeclared nuclear arsenal and a declared disdain towards non-proliferation, notwithstanding its absurd and alarmist campaign against the Iranian nuclear deal.”

Separately on Monday, Haaretz said dozens of former senior Israeli “defense establishment” officials wrote an open letter to Netanyahu urging him to accept the Iran nuclear agreement as a “done deal.”

It called for resolving frayed relations with Washington, preparing for challenges following Vienna, and “initiat(ing) a political move which will provide credibility to Israel's support of a two-state solution.”

It claimed these actions would further “formation of a moderate Sunni-Western axis” against extremist regional elements.

“Such policies will enable both the integration of Israel's capabilities with those regional and international players who share the view of nuclear Iran as a serious threat, and the recruiting of moderate Arab states for the advancement of a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Haaretz explained the letter ran as an ad in its Monday print edition - signed by former Shin Bet chiefs Amy Ayalon and Carmi Gillon, Maj. General Amram Mitzna (Ret.), Brig. General Shaul Arieli (Ret.), former MK Roman Bronfman, former police chief Assaf Heffetz and others.

Washington, France and South Africa aided Israel’s nuclear program development. It’s long past time to fully reveal it and mandate IAEA monitoring no different from what’s imposed on Iran.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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