Obama needs to spell it out to the Israeli government: your
weapons of mass destruction are just as dangerous as
Iran's
Gideon Spiro
22 May 2009
The surprise announcement by Rose Gottemoeller, a US assistant
secretary of state, that America would like every
nation – including Israel – to sign the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty (NPT) has sent shockwaves through Tel Aviv,
confirming the fears (or hopes, depending on who you ask) that the
Obama administration is initiating a major overhaul of its policy
on nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
The Israeli government will certainly challenge the Obama
administration on this issue, as Israel is not likely to
co-operate, to put it mildly, with the state department's new
logical, fair-minded approach to non-proliferation.
It was none other than Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign
minister, who declared – with a quite a bit of chutzpah –
that the US
government would adopt whatever policy Israel
dictated. But Israelis should realise that the
American president cannot be reduced to a puppet of the Israeli
government.
Bearing in mind the possibility of an Israeli attack against Iran's
nuclear facilities, it is critical that the US pursue a robust
non-proliferation policy, and demand that all countries in the
region sign and implement the NPT. This is the only way to prevent
another war in the Middle East.
When Israeli leaders talk about halting the Iranian nuclear
programme, it is a barely concealed threat of a military strike.
Just last month, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz published an
article by its senior commentator for military affairs calling for
Israeli military action against the Iranian nuclear project. When
the most liberal daily paper publishes such an article, alarm bells
should start ringing.
Israel pushed the Middle East into a race for weapons of mass
destruction. In
1986, Mordechai Vanunu, the nuclear whistleblower, exposed the
frantic bomb-making activity going on behind the walls of the
Israeli nuclear facility in Dimona. Experts on nuclear
proliferation estimate that Israel is armed with hundreds of atom
and hydrogen bombs. Adding to this the biological
and chemical weapons that Israel produces in the Nes Ziona
biological institute, a frightening picture emerges: a state that
is a powder keg of atomic, biological and chemical WMD.
Today we know
that Israel developed nuclear arms while deceiving the US
government. President Kennedy was opposed to Israel
acquiring or developing nuclear weapons because of the dangers to
regional and global stability. But Israel successfully
deceived the American inspectors sent to monitor the Dimona
reactor.
An Israeli attack on Iran would be likely to produce catastrophic
consequences, resulting in long-term escalation of violence between
the two countries. Other nations and proxies could take sides
leading, potentially, to a nuclear confrontation. But hostilities
between Israel and Iran would not remain a regional war; they would
probably have profound global consequences and cause serious damage
to the US.
Barack Obama, however, can assume a historic leadership role and
prevent this doomsday scenario. He was elected as the harbinger of
a new era of rapprochement between hostile nations. To achieve
these goals, the American administration needs to rein in Israel,
compel it to accept a regime of nuclear disarmament in our region
and oblige it to open all nuclear, biological and chemical
facilities and missile sites to international inspection. The same
holds true for Iran and the other states in the Middle East.
The US and Israel are allies – a mantra repeated by virtually all
American politicians, but not carefully analysed. There is a
"special relationship", though not in the conventional meaning of
the term as used by Aipac (the American-Israel Public Affairs
Committee): the US finances and arms Israel, and the latter is the
(sometimes) grateful recipient of American beneficence. Without US
support, Israel would be reduced to a minor power. It would be
unable to finance the occupation, the settlements in the West Bank
and, of course, its nuclear arsenal. Using this leverage, the Obama
administration can and should impose on Israel a policy of nuclear
disarmament.
In a volatile region like ours, in which Jews and Muslims claim a
direct link with the Almighty and even purport to speak in His
name, the existence of nuclear weapons is a grave threat to world
peace. This is particularly true with regard to Israel and Iran,
where elements in each country believe in Armageddon as a prelude
to redemption. Some of these religious fundamentalists even serve
in key governmental positions.
This is why
the Obama administration must enforce a non-proliferation policy in
the Middle East with both Israel and Iran, thus preventing the
disastrous consequences of a nuclear
conflagration.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/