While President Obama’s nuclear weapons conference takes place in Washington, some nations wanted to try to co-opt it by painting Israel as a nation that needs to be put under the control of the non-proliferation treaty—a treaty that Israel has never signed, nor ever indicated a desire to do so. Meantime, of course, Iran—a signatory of the NPT—continues apace with its drive for nuclear weapons, even as Obama tells the world that the largest nuclear danger is not Iran, but al Qaeda’s attempt for the bomb. The fact that if al Qaeda does get one, it will likely be at the hands of Iran, is not mentioned.
But there is something else that is not mentioned, and that is the reality of Israel’s nuclear umbrella over the Middle East. Stop and think about it a minute. Israel has had nuclear weapons since the 1960s, and has not used them. Since that time, which of Israel’s regional neighbors have sought nuclear weapons? Iraq, Syria, and Iran—all enemies of Israel. Which nations are now talking about investing in “nuclear energy” since Iran got closer and closer to nuclear weapons? Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, to name only three. They haven’t felt the need to do so in all these years, even knowing that Israel has nuclear weapons, because they know that Israel isn’t about to use them unless threatened with an existential war. And even then, nobody is certain they’d be used.
It wasn’t America’s nuclear umbrella that kept a nuclear arms race from breaking out in the Middle East. It was Israel’s. But now that America is perceived as unable or unwilling to stop the Iranian bomb, the rest of the region wants to have the security of their own weapons to toss back at the Iranians. And yet, Israel is the nation that so many want to make into a pariah. A nation that truly needs nuclear weapons to defend itself–not one that lies about using nuclear power when it is actually on course to have a nuclear bomb in less than a year. Obama’s nuclear summit has achieved almost nothing. China is once again promising to think about maybe someday enacting mild sanctions against Iran. Please stand back while I leap into the air with glee.
I’m sure there are some out there who say that Iran wouldn’t be heading towards nuclear weapons if Israel didn’t have them. Shyeah. Because Iran is just that great of a country. It’s not like they have regional hegemonic ambitions or anything. Or want to become a world power.
It isn’t Israel causing Iran’s race for the bomb. And it isn’t Israel alone that can stop it.
And Israel did NOT use nuclear weapons in the 1973 war. They were doing VERY badly during the Yom Kippur war, at first, and the fact that they did NOT resort to nuclear weapons shows two things.
1) Even under the most dire circumstances, they held back on using them.
2) Their enemies were not concerned of a nuclear response, knowing this.
Who thinks the US would have considered an invasion of Iraq, as in the 2002/2003 or even the 1991 Gulf war, should Iraq had been in possession of nuclear weapons?
Yet, Egypt, Syria and Jordan were not deterred when it was Israel on the other end of the umbrella.