Netanyahu thanked Kerry for US nuclear support. Illustrative. US Secretary of State Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of US State Department.
While the leaderships in Israel and the United States haven’t seen eye-to-eye lately on Iran’s nuclear program, that didn’t prevent the traditional allies from taking a joint approach against singling out Israel at a United Nations nuclear conference. Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally thanked the Americans in a call with US Secretary of State John Kerry for backing them.
“The United States kept its commitment to Israel by preventing a Middle East resolution that would single out Israel and ignore its security interests and the threats posed to it by an increasingly turbulent Middle East,” said a readout of the call released by Netanyahu’s office. The BBC reported that an Egyptian proposal for a regional conference on a nuclear-weapons-free Middle East was considered by analysts to potentially force Israel to state if they have nuclear weapons. However, thanks to US, UK and Canadian efforts, this was prevented.
Netanyahu also thanked the UK and Canada for their support.
Israel has never officially declared whether or not they possesses nuclear weapons and has never used them, but that hasn’t stopped some—including Arabs and even Iran—from verbally attacking Israel over the matter and trying to bring it under UN scrutiny.
Israel, surrounded by enemies in the Middle East, have regularly had their national existence threatened by Iran, a nation suspected of pursuing nuclear weapons.
Syria, another Israeli enemy, is believed to have been working on a nuclear program of their own, according to reports, and has also had a noteworthy chemical weapons stockpile that has reportedly been used on their own people. Other regional states have had their own programs of mass destruction.
Said the statement from Netanyahu’s office, “Israel has consistently believed that a gradual approach to arms control and regional security can be achieved through confidence building measures and a direct dialogue with states in the Middle East.
“Israel also continues to believe that peace, mutual recognition and reconciliation are essential precursors to serious progress on arms control. All Israelis hope for a day when the region will enjoy peace and no one will be threatened by weapons of mass destruction or other dangerous weapons.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, May 25, 2015)