December 4, 2012
Times of Israel

UN Calls on Israel to Open Nuclear Facilities

Resolution urges Israel to sign non-proliferation treaty 'without further delay'

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution Monday calling on Israel to quickly open its nuclear program for inspection and backing a high-level conference to ban nuclear weapons from the Middle East which was just canceled.

All the Arab nations and Iran had planned to attend the conference in mid-December in Helsinki, Finland, but the United States announced on Nov. 23 that it wouldn't take place, citing political turmoil in the region and Iran's defiant stance on nonproliferation. Iran and some Arab nations countered that the real reason for the cancellation was Israel's refusal to attend.

The resolution, approved by a vote of 174-6 with 6 abstentions, calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty "without further delay" and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Those voting "no" were Israel, the US, Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.

Resolutions adopted by the 193-member General Assembly are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion and carry moral and political weight. . . .

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Israel's Secret Weapon, BBC Correspondent, March 17, 2003

Robert S. McNamara, "Nuclear Weapons as a Foreign-policy Tool: Immoral, Illegal and Dreadfully Dangerouss," Foreign Policy, May/June 2005

John Mearsheimer, "Israel's Nukes Harm US National Interests," Antiwar.com, July 9, 2010

John Glaser, "US Cancels Mid East Conference on Nuke-Free Zone: The US blamed regional turmoil, but it was Israel's refusal to attend that prompted cancelation," antiwar.com, November 24, 2012

Herb Keinon, "J'lem rejects UN call to open nuke program to probe," jpost.com, December 4, 2012