Israel Demands IAEA Action on Iran, Syria, Not Itself

Despite Refusing to Subject Their Own Program to International Scrutiny, Israel Demands “Firm” Action

by Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com, June 07, 2009

Addressing Friday’s reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Israeli Foreign Ministry today demanded that the group take “immediate and determined” action against Iran and Syria, two states over which certain questions remain unanswered.

Israel has accused both nations of pursuing covert nuclear weapons programs that the IAEA has not uncovered. The incredible thing is that Israel is not itself a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has developed its own massive nuclear weapons program, which it has refused to subject to international scrutiny.

In Syria in particular, the IAEA reported finding trace amounts of enriched uranium inside a nuclear reactor that runs on enriched uranium, but said the traces were absent from previous declarations. Israel has demanded that the IAEA publicly condemn Syria for the lapse.

In Iran, the IAEA confirmed that Iran’s uranium enrichment program continued to grow. Though perfectly legal and designed for use in tandem with a soon to be finished nuclear energy reactor at Bushehr, Israel has condemned the program. The IAEA once again affirmed that none of the low-enriched uranium had been diverted to any other use.

Last month, a US official suggested that every nation, even Israel, should join the NPT, and Israel reacted with shock and outrage. Yet with no real proof of wrong-doing, Israel would subject Syria (whom it illegally attacked in 2007, destroying the evidence it claims once existed of their covert program) and Iran to further international censure for falling somewhat short of perfection in answering questions Israel would’ve never allowed to be asked to begin with.

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Tags: Iran, Israel, IAEA, Syria, Israeli nuclear wepons, Non-Proliferation Treaty