UN nuclear assembly rejects Arab bid to pressure Israel
Arab initiative voted down once again at the IAEA, with 58 countries against resolution and 45 states in favor; draft text called on Israel to 'accede to the NPT and place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards.'
Member states of the UN nuclear agency rejected on Thursday an Arab resolution criticizing Israel over its assumed atomic arsenal, in a diplomatic victory for Western states that opposed the initiative.
Arab states had submitted the non-binding resolution - which called on Israel to join a global anti-nuclear weapons pact - to the annual meeting of the 162-nation International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in part to signal their frustration at the lack of progress to move towards a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.
The United States and its allies argued that the resolution, if adopted, would be counterproductive. Fifty-eight countries voted against the text and 45 states for, while 27 abstained.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman praised the IAEA decision to reject the Arab bid. "This is a victory for Israeli diplomacy," Lieberman said, praising the work of Israeli diplomats who worked to foil the passing of the resolution, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke with world leaders about the issue.
Lieberman himself has been speaking with foreign ministers and heads of states in order to convince them to vote down the resolution.
He said the rejection of the initiative "sends an important message that the international community would not permit this empty attempt to point an accusing finger at Israel when everyone knows, including the Arab countries behind the bid, that the threat to Middle East stability and world peace is not from a responsible and peace loving country like Israel, but from Iran's continuous effort to reach nuclear weapons, and from the terror organizations that are funded in part by some of the Arab states behind the proposal."
The foreign minister said it would be better for the countries that submitted the proposed resolution "to think what their situation would be like if the nuclear reactor Syria was trying to build in Deir ez-Zor had been completed, and had it fallen into the hands of the Islamic State or the al-Nusra Front."
Netanyahu welcomed the outcome of the vote, calling the resolution an effort "to harm Israel."
Introducing the resolution in Vienna, Kuwaiti Ambassador Sadiq Marafi criticized what he called Israel's "provocative and aggressive attitude" and described the country as "the only obstacle on a way to create a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East."
Israeli Ambassador Merav Zafari-Odiz, while welcoming the outcome, questioned how a "genuine dialogue among regional parties" could be expected "when our Arab neighbors continue to choose the path of condemning and singling out Israel in every possible international arena."
The US opposed the resolution. US envoy Laura Kennedy said it "lessens confidence among the regional parties and diminishes the prospect for constructive dialogue."
A non-binding resolution
It was the second consecutive year that a resolution seeking to censure Israel was put to a vote and defeated at the IAEA meeting.
But even if the resolution had passed, an Arab resolution on what it calls Israeli Nuclear Capabilities - opposed by Washington and European states - would be non-binding.
However, intense lobbying by both sides underlines its symbolic geo-strategic significance and deep divisions on the issue of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, where some Arab countries joined the United States this week in air strikes on radical Islamist insurgents.
Israel is believed to possess the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, drawing frequent condemnation by Arab countries and Iran as an alleged threat to regional peace and security.
The Jewish state is the only Middle Eastern country outside the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
A draft text circulated at the IAEA meeting by 18 Arab states, including Syria, expressed "concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities and calls upon Israel to accede to the NPT and place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards."
US and Israeli officials see Iran's nuclear activity as the main proliferation threat in the Middle East. They have warned that the Arab resolution, if adopted, could set back wider efforts to ban weapons of mass destruction in the region.
Israel has never confirmed or denied having nuclear weapons under a policy of ambiguity aimed at deterring longtime Arab and Islamic adversaries. It says it would only join the NPT after a broader Middle East peace settlement.
Little trust
The head of the Israeli delegation, Atomic Energy Commission head Shaul Chorev, criticized what he called a "continuous anti-Israel campaign waged" by Arab members of the IAEA.
"Arab insistence on 'Israeli Nuclear Capabilities' negates dialogue, trust and confidence," he told delegates this week.
Last year, Arab states submitted a resolution on Israel to the gathering in Vienna for the first time since 2010 to signal their frustration at the lack of movement in efforts to ban nuclear bombs and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. But it was rejected by an eight-vote margin.
Iran, an NPT signatory unlike Israel, denies accusations that it has been working to develop an atomic bomb capability. It is now negotiating with six world powers, including the United States, to end the dispute over its nuclear program.
Attila Somfalvi contributed to this report.
