Israeli MP thanked France for nuclear weapons

Shraga Elam
Zurich/Switzerland
23 June 2008

No real media attention was given to a stunning declaration made yesterday by Dalia Itzik, the Knesset Speaker. Greeting the French president Nicola Sarkozy she said among other things:

„… we remember the beautiful days of political and mainly security cooperation [between our countries – s.e.] and will be forever thankful to you, the French, for giving us the main source of power and deterrence that was and will be in our possession.“

(Source: Knesset website in Hebrew /http://www.knesset.gov.il/vip/speaker/heb/SpSpeech230608.htm). The statement was quoted partially in the Hebrew Ha‘aretz edition, which added: „… as is known the nuclear plant in Dimona was erected with a French aid.” (http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/995439.html ) .

This official statement in the Knesset signals a real change in Israel's policy of nuclear opacity; i.e., Israel has refused to admit till now possessing nuclear weapons. This obvious lie was accepted by the US governments as the most convenient solution for the problem posed by the Israeli nukes. A talkbackist called Hass wrote correctly: „US law requires(d) the US to limit scientific/technical interactions with non-NPT nuclear armed states, and the “opacity” in question was specifically intended to allow Israel to circumvent these restrictions by agreeing to pretend that Israeli nukes don’t exist.“ ( http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/1321/israel-and-nuclear-opacity ).

The most plausible explanation for Itzik’s surprising statement is that Israel is preparing the ground for accepting Iranian nukes and institutionalizing a policy of „balance of terror“. The „balance of terror“ requires that both sides will possess weapons of mass destruction and the possession should be made known in order to deter the enemy from attacking.

Hebrew short version:
http://cafe.themarker.com/view.php?t=495545

IAEA on Iran's Nuclear Program: Reality vs. US media myth

Jeremy R. Hammond
June 5, 2008

This is a good investigative report that can rarely been found in US media. Jeremy starts his report with the following:

When the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent its follow-up report on the implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement in Iran to the United Nations Security Council on May 26, the response from the U.S. media was pretty much along predictable lines.

The next day, The New York Times, under a headline that read "Atomic Monitor Signals Concern Over Iran's Work," called it an "unusually blunt and detailed report" and quoted the report as saying that Iran's alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapon remained "a matter of serious concern." The report "accused the Iranians of a willful lack of cooperation, particularly in answering allegations that its nuclear program may be intended more for military use than for energy generation." The case that Iran may be seeking a weapon consists in part on 18 documents indicating that "the Iranians have ventured into explosives, uranium processing and a missile warhead design."

Jeremy concludes in his investigative report:

Thus, out of the five remaining outstanding issues at the time of the February report, three were deemed then to be no longer outstanding. A fourth, regarding the "uranium metal document" was awaiting further corroboration from Pakistan of Iran's explanation for its possession of the document, which the IAEA has since received. The last remaining outstanding issue is with regard to the "alleged studies" purportedly shown in documents provided by other nations that Iran claims are forgeries. While these documents are indeed a "serious concern" when considering allegations of Iran's "cat-and-mouse" game with the IAEA, it must also be considered that Iran hasn't even been presented with some of these documents cited as evidence of its intention to build a bomb. The follow-up May report doesn't reiterate issues deemed no longer outstanding from the February report, giving cause for that context to be conveniently forgotten in US media reports.

The fact is that the IAEA has noted substantial progress in resolving outstanding issues that remain in the process of verifying the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. Iran's right to research and develop nuclear technology for energy is guaranteed under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Iran has allowed the IAEA access and oversight under the terms of its Safeguards Agreement, and the Agency has continued to successfully monitor Iran's program, detecting no proscribed activities indicating a parallel weapons program.

As the IAEA Secretary General Mohammed El Baradei noted at the World Economic Forum the week before the delivery of the May report to the UN, "We haven't seen indications or any concrete evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon and I've been saying that consistently for the last five years."[13]

One must be forgiven if one had arrived at a different conclusion based on contrary impressions delivered to the public by the US media.

the full report @ OpEdNews
more on: http://www.yirmeyahureview.com