Tovah Lazaroff
Jerusalem Post, Oct. 30, 2022
“Maayan explained it’s impossible to speak of a regional security architecture around the nuclear issue in a situation where Middle East countries do not recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
Israel must dispose of all its nuclear weapons and place its nuclear sites under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s purview, the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee stated in an initial 152-5 vote.
The five nations that opposed Friday’s resolution on the “risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East” were: Canada, Israel, Micronesia, Palau and the United States. Another 24 countries abstained, including European Union members.
The annual resolution submitted by Egypt to the UNGA in New York was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority and 19 counties including Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
The resolution largely targets Israel, which is believed to be one of only nine nations to possess nuclear weapons. Israel has never admitted to having such weapons.
The resolution notes that Israel is the only country in the Middle East and one of the few among the UN’s 193 member states, which has not signed the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT).
Iran, which is a signatory to the treaty, is believed to be on the path to developing nuclear weapons. Despite this, the resolution did not mention Iran. … Source