Arab states target Israeli arsenal at nuclear meeting

VIENNA — Arab countries have circulated a resolution at a nuclear meeting that singles out Israel for special attention over its alleged nuclear arsenal.

The draft echoes previous such resolutions at annual meetings of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.

Backed by 18 Arab states, including Syria, the resolution expresses concern “about the Israeli nuclear capabilities” and calls on Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“Israel alone possesses nuclear capabilities which are undeclared and not subject to international control, thus constituting a permanent threat to peace and security in the region,” the resolution states.

Israel has never acknowledged that it owns nuclear weapons.

The IAEA rejected a similar initiative, which the US spoke out against, in September 2013 by a vote of 51 to 43 at its annual meeting in Vienna, in which 32 nations abstained.

Had the resolution been passed by the IAEA, Israel would have been called upon to sign on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and submit to agency scrutiny of its nuclear facilities.

The Arab initiative was part of mounting international pressure on Israel to relinquish — or at least admit to possessing — weapons of mass destruction. The heightened interest in the Jewish state’s alleged nuclear, chemical and biological weapons comes amid indications from Iran that it’s ready to show flexibility in nuclear talks, and in the wake of a Russian-brokered deal that would see Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons shipped off and eventually destroyed.

A similar version of the resolution was narrowly passed four years ago at the IAEA, but its implementation was postponed due to pressure from Western governments. In 2011 and 2012, Arab member states refrained from pushing the initiative fearing it would harm attempts to convene an international conference to rid the Middle East of WMDs.

According to a report in the September/October issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Israel possesses a stockpile of 80 nuclear warheads, all of which were produced by 2004, when Israel froze all production.

Israel’s nuclear program has long been shrouded in secrecy, with the country maintaining a policy of ambiguity while refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Previous estimates have put the number of warheads in Israel’s possession at up to 400. According to foreign reports, Israel’s military has the capacity to deliver a nuclear payload via a variety of methods, including ballistic missiles, aircraft, and submarine-launched cruise missiles.