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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Arabs try to hijack IAEA meeting for anti-Israel agenda

Times of Israel reports:

Arab countries have circulated a resolution at a nuclear meeting that singles out Israel for special attention over its alleged nuclear arsenal.

The draft echoes previous such resolutions at annual meetings of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.

Backed by 18 Arab states, including Syria, the resolution expresses concern “about the Israeli nuclear capabilities” and calls on Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“Israel alone possesses nuclear capabilities which are undeclared and not subject to international control, thus constituting a permanent threat to peace and security in the region,” the resolution states.

Israel has never acknowledged that it owns nuclear weapons.

The IAEA rejected a similar initiative, which the US spoke out against, in September 2013 by a vote of 51 to 43 at its annual meeting in Vienna, in which 32 nations abstained.

But that wasn't the only attempt by Arabs to politicize what would otherwise be an important conference.

The PLO representative had other things to accuse Israel of.

Salah Abdel Shafi spoke about the need to "validate reports that indicate the use of Israeli weapons containing radioactive materials against the Palestinian people during the recent aggression on Gaza."

The canard that Israel uses depleted uranium in war has been around since Lebanon in 2006, and even the UN found it to be baseless.

Abdul Shafi also said he was concerned for the effects that an Israeli nuclear accident might have. He said that there were "fears and anxiety because of the damage a disaster would have on the Palestinian people and the peoples of the surrounding Arab countries."

He expressed no concern for the fate of any Israeli Jews in case of such a nuclear accident.

To Arabs, the IAEA isn't an international organization that is meant to solve urgent issues that affect the entire world. It is just another tool to bash Israel.