Skip to main content

Israel's double standards

With the world displaying its concern about North Korea's nuclear test and capabilities and how this might all play out in relation to Iran's nuclear intentions, needless to say Israel eyes where Iran is headed with more than a degree of apprehension - as well it might.

That said, this item from the Jewish Telgraphic Agency displays a double-standard not only by the Israelis but in the West's attitude to the well-known fact of Israel possessing a nuclear capacity:

"Shimon Peres said he sees no reason for Israel to go public with its nuclear capabilities.

The Israeli vice premier, who helped found the Dimona reactor a half-century ago, said Monday that the Jewish state’s policy of “strategic ambiguity” over whether it has an atomic arsenal is a success.

“Look, we have not conducted nuclear tests. We never said we have nuclear weaponry. We made do with the suspicions that were directed at us, as a deterrent power. I think that this was the right decision. I think such calculations are still relevant,” he told Army Radio.

Peres confirmed before an American Jewish audience in 2003 that Israel has nuclear weapons, but the admission was not considered official because Peres was not in government at the time.

With Iran seen as trying to developing nuclear weapons, some experts have speculated that Israel could go public with its own strategic capabilities to maintain deterrence."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...

Palestinian children in irons. UK to investigate

Not for the first time does MPS wonder what sort of country it is when Israel so flagrently allows what can only be described as barbaric and inhuman behaviour to be undertaken by, amongst others, its IDF. No one has seemingly challenged Israel's actions. However, perhaps it's gone a bridge too far - as The Independent reports. The Foreign Office revealed last night that it would be challenging the Israelis over their treatment of Palestinian children after a report by a delegation of senior British lawyers revealed unconscionable practices, such as hooding and the use of leg irons. In the first investigation of its kind, a team of nine senior legal figures examined how Palestinians as young as 12 were treated when arrested. Their shocking report Children in Military Custody details claims that youngsters are dragged from their beds in the middle of the night, have their wrists bound behind their backs, and are blindfolded and made to kneel or lie face down in military vehi...

Wow!.....some "visitor" to Ferryland in Newfoundland