It's Israel's turn to go Nuclear-Free, Aref Assaf, Bergen Record, December
26, 2003, Star Ledger January 5, 2004
Dear Editor:
Now that Libya has declared its intent to rid itself of its nuclear and Weapons
of mass destruction programs, the only other country that is known to possess
such capabilities is Israel. Israel is the world's fifth largest nuclear power.
And over in the other WMD arena, nobody much dissents when a report by the
Office of Technology Assessment for the US Congress concludes that Israel has
"undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities" and is "generally reported
as having an undeclared offensive biological warfare program".
Bombs, missiles, delivery systems, gases, germs?
Tel Aviv has the lot.
Israel’s possession of such weapons is so well known a fact; the BBC dubbed it
“the world’s most well-known secret.” The host of the BBC show that was aired
twice in 2003 began his communiqué by asking fear-provoking questions: “Which
country in the Middle East has undeclared Nuclear weaponry? Which country in the
Middle East has no outside inspections? .. Which country jailed its nuclear
whistleblower for 18 years? ..” The dramatic introduction was followed by an
enlarged title page: “ISRAEL’S SECRET WEAPON.”
Israel’s refusal to approve the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, in addition to
strong speculations that Israel owns over 200 nuclear warheads and the Arab
League’s most recent assertion to the International Atomic Energy Agency that
Israel now has the capability of producing a hydrogen bomb, are all not enough
to convince the United States and its war ‘coalition’ that Iran and Iraq aren’t
the real ‘imminent’ danger.
While the proper response to Israel’s rouge stance ought to be clear demand to
allow unhindered access to weapons inspectors and unconditional signing of the
NPT, the exact opposite is unfolding. The U.S. continues to omit Israel from the
list of countries of undeclared or illegal nuclear arsenal to immunize it
against sharp economic political sanctions that mandated by U.S. law. We are
aiding and abetting Israel to violate international law and continues to acquire
and develop nuclear capabilities.
Israel, whose level of comfort in the United States and its war allies’
unconditional patronage is at an all time high, too, had its own, time-honored
method of responding to nit-picking media reports, like that of the
occasionally, yet not always honest, BBC. Israel officially declared boycotting
the British Broadcasting Company.
The production or use of weapons of mass destruction should be vehemently
rejected, regardless of any rationalization, no matter how merited they might
appear. When a nuclear bomb is dropped, or when nerve gas is discharge, neither
the identity of the attacker nor the victim should be of essence. Equally, we
should lend no sympathy to whether the pilot dropping the bomb is a citizen of a
democratically elected government or assigned by a religious cleric. Not one
should be allowed to produce or attain such massive killing agents, not Iran,
not India and certainly not Israel.
One can strongly make the case that if one or more Middle Eastern countries are
indeed pondering the probabilities of attaining weapons of mass destruction, it
is, in part, because of the fear that its lack of such weapons can place it on
the list of most vulnerable countries. It is not easy to scold or kick around a
country with a fully functioning nuclear weapons system. The Pakistani response
to India’s weaponry and the North Korean admission to the possession of such
weapons are all cases in point. By granting Israel the right to produce weapons
that can be used for one purpose only, mass killing, then demanding Iran to
cease the mere desire to produce them is the ultimate hypocrisy.
In the past, much of Israel’s actions were justified because of the racist
premise of Israel’s progressiveness and the Arab’s backwardness. The right to
mass killing should not be equally justified according to the same premise, not
by any stretch of the imagination, no matter how racist such an imagination may
be.
The problem is that that a discussion of such open secret is taboo especially in
Washington.
Israel could do something about this. It needs first admit its possession of a
huge nuclear arsenal and secondly to sign the nuclear non Proliferation Treaty.
Most importantly, I Israel must destroy its nuclear and biological arsenal under
full international supervision.
Israel will be safer without such weapons as they only provide unrealistic sense
of security and only give reason to its foes to acquire similar weapons.
Military conflicts are always about perception of one's capabilities as much as
they are about your enemy’s real strength.
The fall of Saddam and his never found WMD's in addition to the agreement by
Iran to open up its borders to international, inspectors are significant steps
towards a stable and nuclear free Middle East.
We hope President Bush was also talking to Israel when he called on other
nations in the region to follow Libya's decision to go nuclear free. This ought
to be the mission of the United States for the region. We have a moral duty and
immense influence upon that country’s resolve not to stay rouge, destabilizing
state but rather a peaceful one.
Israel will be safer without such weapons as they only provide unrealistic sense
of security and only give reason to its foes to acquire similar weapons.
Military conflicts are always about perception of one's capabilities as much as
they are about your enemy’s real strength.
The fall of Saddam and his never found WMD's in addition to the agreement by
Iran to open up its borders to international inspectors are significant steps
towards a stable and nuclear free Middle East.
We hope President Bush was also addressing Israel when he called on other
nations in the region to follow Libya's decision to go nuclear free. Sadly, the
Administration seems intent on not raising this issue especially in an elections
year. Such political gambling may ultimately harm America's interests in the
world. A nuclear free Middle East ought to be the mission of the United States
for the region. We have a moral duty and immense influence upon that country’s
resolve not to stay a rouge, destabilizing state but rather a peaceful one.
Aref Assaf,
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