The Most Dangerous Double Standard in the Middle East

 

Over the last 50 years, Israel has been directly and indirectly aided and funded in its development of weapons of mass destruction by the United States, France, Norway, Britain and Germany.  These powerful nations have neither been forthright nor accountable in their roles in giving one small country in the Middle East enough clout to wipe out most of their neighbors via nuclear holocaust.  Such a stance is not only controversial and hypocritical to non proliferation, it is intrinsically detrimental to all other diplomacy and hope(s) concerning peace in the future of the Middle East. 

 

Iran's rather defiant and overt intentions re: producing and maintaining nuclear energy, calls for a closer scrutiny and study of defiant nuclear ambitions in the Middle East. Israel's long standing ambiguity about its nuclear weapons, gives Iran and the world, pause and speculation as to why some governments, especially the US government and including some EU governments, chose to either subvert emphasis on non proliferation, or simply did not have the adequate intelligence to discern what historians and journalists are now only beginning to piece together as history, concerning Israel's illegal acquisitions of heavy water and uranium.

 

Either ponderance brings with it a profound sense of unease and mistrust of any governments or political leaders who also remain silent about past, present and future Zionist "Manifest Destiny" that makes excuse(s) for ethnic cleansing and massive group punishments of a people suffering decades of brutal Occupation; a people still having land stolen from them.

 

Further more, to object to Iran's nuclear future without pressuring and bringing Israel into open and honest negotiation about its arsenal including forthright inspections, seems either absurd or outrageously insulting not only to the Arab world but to the world in general.

 

The United States and most of Europe, now rumbling and grumbling and on edge over Iran still avoids even discussion let alone confrontation over Israel's  proliferation,  and thus presents this rather poor standard for diplomacy. A foreign policy that favors and entitles one country with rogue weapons while condemning another,  perpetuates an uneasy clime and double standard wherein peaceful negotiation is doomed before it ever begins. 

 

Israeli journalist, Michael Karpin, recently published a book version of "The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means For the World"  and provides readers with an interesting history of scientists, politicians and spies.  Mr Karpin determines and explores the influences and raison d'etre of Israel's nuclear weapons and the secrecy about them. He writes of the Holocaust and Israel's size and demographic compared to surrounding sizable neighbors.Karpin's book follows in the wake of his earlier (2001) documentary on the same subject, and provides us with the history ,without philosophical, moral or religious agendas. Perhaps it has always been the  philosophical and morality that has been lost all these years in ambiguity.

 

Mr Karpin has carefully, although selectively, researched a history made intricate and complicated in alliances with purpose to buy and sell arms. France, Germany, USA, Norway and Britain all played major roles in supplying the state of Israel with the major "ingredients" for nuclear weapons. Mr Karpin details the influence Israel exerted upon EU countries and the sequence of US administration(s) and public opinion.

 

In 1960, US military satellites determined that the reactor in Dimona might NOT be in existence for "peaceful" purpose, while the New York Times reported (Dec 19) what the CIA already knew.... that " officials are studying with mounting concern recent evidence indicating that Israel, with the assistance of France , may be developing the capacity to produce nuclear weapons" . The article further implied that Israel had been deceiving the United States in its nuclear ambitions.  These realizations and sentiments did not deter Israel from achieving its goal via any and often nefarious means.  

 

Norway had willingly provided Israel with enough heavy water to build hundreds of bombs, but only under agreement of inspections.  This agreement was rather dormant until 1986 and the kidnapping , secret trial , testament and punishment of Israel's nuclear whistle blower, Mordechai Vanunu. Only then did Norway fully realize the real price of selling "heavy water" to the state of Israel.

 

Recently two British lawmakers have accused their government of a cover-up in trying to conceal the secret sale of heavy water to Israel in 1959. Although Britain maintains the deal and sale was only between Norway and Britain, admission comes now regarding prior knowledge of where that heavy water would find its final "home". A BBC report further claims that Brits took the water out of its own stockpile and loaded it on board Israeli ships. Documents also show that Britain was well aware of Israel seeking to buy uranium from South Africa.

 

Throughout the years, historians and investigative journalists have sought to clarify all of the murkier more ambiguous details that have never been addressed. The cover story for SPIEGAL May 2004, "Black Market of Horror" was recently translated by Victor Diodon and presents us with further details about the well known Mossad commando, Rafi Eitan, who was not only responsible for the abduction of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann but whose next greatest purpose was to acquire fissionable materials for the atomic weapons program Israel wished to have.

 

Also detailed is a company from Apollo, Pennsylvania , Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp (NUMEC), owned and run by the son of an orthodox rabbi and ardent Zionist who strangely lost track of a certain amount of enriched uranium that was stored at the plant for legitimate US government contracts.   Rafi Eitan, master mind in spying and stealing technological secrets, paid NUMEC a visit.  More than 100 kilos of uranium disappeared and owner,  Zalman Shapiro , did not report the loss. He feigned ignorance and ignorance and there was only enough evidence for the United States Atomic Energy Commission to shut the plant down and could not convict him.

 

In Brussels, according to the same Spiegal cover staory, Eitan takes similar action, only this time with forged papers and the cooperation of a German businessman. Somewhere close to Cyprus a ship carrying a load of uranium disappears, but not before the "goods" were loaded onto an Israeli ship headed for Haifa. Later German businessman, , Herbert Schulzen declares himself an unknowing intermediary for a client he did not know. 

 

In 1982, the most eager of all Israelis to have the "bomb in the basement" was Eitan's friend and then Minister of Defense, Ariel Sharon,  who was allegedly prepared on more than one occasion to directly attack Syria and the man responsibile for orchestrated the 1982 massacre of hundreds of thousands civilian Lebanese and Palestinian refugees. Mr. Sharon, dubbed "The Butcher of Beirut" will not likely survive well enough to be tried as a war criminal.  Eitan and Sharon, in 1985 would use and abuse and then later distance themselves from American spy for Israel, Jonathan Pollard . Before they snubbed him, however, they received much in the way of technological "high security" secrets.

 

Iran, filled with mistrust,  hate and hateful paranoia towards Israel and the West , seems to have as much  practical reasons for acquiring a nuclear reactor under the guise of "energy" as Israel did.  Given its turbulent history, and the fact that two of its closest neighbors are now occupied by the West, it seems quite reasonable for Iran to desire the same protection as Israel "secretly" has.  

   

Nuclear Weapons come in all shapes and sizes and the Dolphin class submarines. that complete Israel's fleet and can carry missiles, in 1989 , the very same Mossad commando set out to find a shipyard able and willing to build submarines for Israel. In 1998, Yossi Melman wrote an aptly named article published in Haaretz called  "Swimming With the Dolphins: Israel's New Dolphin Submarines, Built in Germany, Will Add a New Dimension to the Nuclear Arms Race in the Middle East". In this article he describes how George the Father HW Bush agreed to allow US funding to pay for Israel's submarines to be built in German shipyards but that the plan for new Dolphin submarines was not realized until the beginning of the Gulf War.

 

The same German government that allowed German companies to sell materials to Iraq for "unconventional"  chemical weapons now approved the funding and the construction of submarines for Israel with potential to be used with nuclear war heads in a "second strike" position. In other words, if the reactor at Dimona was suddenly attacked and wiped out..there is now in place the ways and means to provide immediate second strike in retaliation.

 

On June 15, 2002, the Washington Post disclosed ,

 

"Israel has acquired three diesel submarines that it is armimg with newly designed cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, according to former Pentagon and State Department officials, potentially giving Israel a triad of land-, sea- and air-based nuclear weapons for the first time"

 

 

and that the US had monitored Israel's testing of a cruise missile off of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.  How many other nuclear testings have taken place and in retrospect , one must consider the potential damage to humanity and environment , that such "untold" tests produce. What seismological causes and effects do nuclear missiles and and their carrier submarines produce in the surrounding areas? especially since it stands to reason most "secret"  tests would take place closest to nations who do not have the technology to monitor such activities. What is  US reaction  when countries that they "suspect" have nuclear weapons, test their arms?

 

During these last two White House terms, the American public has been recklessly thrust into a seemingly endless occupation inspiring what was not there before (suicide bombers) with mounting death tolls to military and civilian population. Bush's War, based upon faulty intelligence leaks and motivation for reconstruction via war contracts , leads us closer to disaster at a time when only the finest form of diplomacy and leadership is required. The corrupt level of intelligence leaks and spying can only make one look more carefully at the newsbreaking story that leaked to the L.A. Times October 12, 2003 concerning Israel's acquistion of Dolphin submarines from Germany.

 

This story was posted in alternative news media  but got little mention mainstream media. In retropect, considering the anonymous sources who are desribed as Bush administration officials, one must also consider such a "leak" to possibly have been a planned manipulation.

 

 

Who were those Bush administration officials? And how did they take it upon themselves to warn Israel's enemies or was it a commanded maneuver ?

 

 

The Americans said they were disclosing the information to caution Israel's enemies at a time of heightened tensions in the region and concern over Iran's alleged ambitions."

 

Did the map that MSNBC aired on telivision in April 2003 come from such an official source as well? Who are these Bush administration "official" peddlars of secrets?

 

Suddenly ! mid submarine and negotiation,  Germany decided to halt delivery, supposedly in lieu of the building arms race that now included Iran.  But if there was ever such a peace worthy motivation, why in December of 2004 does Israel hope to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic ties with Germany by acquiring two more Dolphin submarines? And by February 2005, the world learns of "German Gifting of Nuclear Submarines to Israel: NPT Delinquency".

 

Present foreign policy facades about arms control and non proliferation will simply NOT work. The diplomatic situation grows worse. Neither bluffing nor bragging will convince Iran to reconcile with all its neighbors and the West in general. 

 

At a time when the world requires more focus on climate and environment,  famine and disease, spending money on weapons systems to up the ante around and around again seems a futile spiral.  The "second strike" suggestion and tactic set in motion by "anonymous" Bush and Israeli officials re: submarines with nuclear missile capacity, has had an opposite effect in terms of Iran's reaction to being bullied over nuclear reactors without the example(s) of Israel's honest commitment to peace.  And now Russia has  also decided to make a motion by selling arms to Iran.

 

For more than fifty years Israel has been directly and illegitimately funded and aided in its nuclear weapons production by France, the United States, Britain, Germany and Norway yet maintaining "ambiguity".

 

During that time, Israel has also refused to sign or negotiate any commitment against the use of biological weapons, such as the 1972 Biological Weapons Conventions. Thus another ambiguous stance when peace requires making more clear the moral conscience and commitment towards peace and non violence.

 

In spite of the war mongers and in spite of very little exposure,  represntatives and citizens from all around the world are continually working towards peaceful resolution and non proliferation. Here in the US, we are barely noticed ...thousands marching in the streets of NYC against nuclear proliferation and very small awareness, locally and regionally.  US Mayors for Peace marched, amid mayors from all over the world including many from Japan.....while my Mayor avoided the issues. 

 

Recently an Israeli peace group sent  the enclosed The Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament letter to me.

 

You are also urged to send a similar message to your governments,urging no military action and especially no use of nuclear weaponsover Iran, and a nuclear - free middle - east.To sign please reply stating your position, name of yourorganisation/party, and location including country, to[email protected]The Parliamentarians and Civil Society Appeal on Iran and NuclearWeapons, now endorsed by Abolition2000 and Mayors for Peace, isavailable on the following urls:In french:Tu le trouveras sur le site d'ACDN : http://www.acdn.net en français et enanglais.PNND website at the following url:http://www.gsinstitute.org/pnnd/ParliamentariansIranNukes.htmIt is also on the GANA website of Ak Malten at:http://www.cornnet.nl/~akmalten/Iran_Nuclear_letter.htmlPARLIAMENTARIANS AND CIVIL SOCIETY APPEAL ON IRAN AND NUCLEAR WEAPONSA PEACEFUL SOLUTION TO THE IRAN CRISIS AND A NUCLEAR-FREE MIDDLE EASTNO FIRST USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONSTo:President George BushSecy of State Condoleeza RiceSecy of Defence Donald RumsfeldUN Ambassador John BoltonPresident Ahmadinejad of IranForeign Minister of Iran, Kamal JharzeIran UN Ambassador, H.E. Zarif-KhonsariAriel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel,Israel Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom,H.E. Mr. Dan Gillerman, Israel UN MissionccMr Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European CommissionTony Blair, Prime Minister of UK and Exercising President of theEuropean CouncilJack Straw, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth AffairsThe Hon. John Howard, Prime Minister of AustraliaThe Hon. Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs, AustraliaM. Jacques Chirac, Président de la République FrançaiseM. Dominique de Villepin, Premier MinistreM. Philippe Douste-Blazy, Ministre des Affaires EtrangèresHerr Horst Köhler, Bundespräzsident DeutschlandsFrau Angela Merkel, Bundeskanzlerin DeutschlandsDr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Deutsche BundesaussenministerMr Kofi Annan, General Secretary of the United NationsMr Mohamed ElBaradei, Director of the IAEADear Presidents Bush and Ahmadinejad, Presidents, Prime Ministers,Foreign Ministers, Secretaries of State and Defence and Ambassadors,The proliferation of nuclear weapons is possibly the single greatestthreat to civilisation.  If a feared cascade of proliferation occurs,the probability that by malice, madness, miscalculation ormalfunction, nuclear weapons will at some point be used will increasesharply. All nations have a responsibility to ensure that the numberof nations with nuclear weapons does not grow, to prevent non-stateactors from obtaining them, and for those who posses nuclear weaponsto eliminate and abolish them.Threats and rumours of military action or even nuclear weapons useonly worsen a growing crisis between Iran, the United States, andIsrael.Reports of preparations for and explorations of military options, nomatter how speculative, are highly disturbing and are in themselvesdangerous. Such explorations must cease. There must be no talk of war.But there IS talk of war, both from the United States and fromIsrael. President Ahmadinejad, you have spoken of "wiping Israel fromthe map."  In the US and Israel, 'hotheads' call openly for "swiftmilitary action", while 'responsible' leaders speak of "no optionbeing ruled out." President Bush, we heard these same twoformulations used just months before the invasion of Iraq.   We urgethat  the explorations of military or nuclear options ceaseimmediately, and support IAEA General Director, Mohamed ElBaradei incalling for this belligerent talk from all parties to stop now.The United States and other Nuclear Weapon States and de factonuclear weapon states -nations that already possess nuclear weapons-have made little progress toward the internationally mandated goal ofthe total and unequivocal elimination of those weapons. Althoughthere has been some limited progress in lowering total nuclearstockpiles, the established nuclear weapons possessors continue torely on those weapons in their security doctrines, and do notenvisage change in that posture 'for the foreseeable future'.This continues in spite of a clear international consensus to theeffect that nuclear weapons are a continuing threat to civilisationand life, in spite of repeated calls by the international communityfor progress toward their total and unequivocal elimination.Nations that possess large nuclear arsenals cannot consistently orcredibly call for others to eliminate or cease the pursuit of nuclearweapons arsenals of their own while not moving to eliminate their ownnuclear weapons.  A global commitment to the elimination of nuclearweapons is a global commitment to the elimination of nuclear weapons,and applies equally to all parties.  There can be no exceptions.Those who now posses nuclear arsenals are obliged to eliminate thosearsenals. Those who do not have them must not pursue them.Similarly, the violation of the goal of a nuclear-free Middle East by

one party does not in any way excuse its violation by another party.However, the renunciation of the nuclear option by one party willfacilitate its renunciation by another party.Israel's nuclear arsenal and the pursuit of nuclear weapons by Iran -if indeed that is taking place - are dangerous per se and open thegate for further proliferation by other Middle Eastern nations, andfor a middle eastern arms race that would be dangerous in theextreme. This must not happen.Serious concerns exist over the possibility that US nuclear doctrinemay envisage strikes against other nations that involve a first useof nuclear weapons, or possibly the use of nuclear weapons againstnations that are not themselves nuclear - armed. We note withapproval the recent letter by US senators and others in this matter.A third use of nuclear weapons must never take place. It would be acatastrophe not only for Iran or Israel but for the entire region andeven for the entire world, because of its radioactive fallout, itschaotic effects, and because it would break the taboo against the useof these weapons that has so far held place for the last 60 years.Breaking this taboo could result in the further use of nuclearweapons, with a lower and lower bar for such use. The widespread useof nuclear weapons would be catastrophic for the world.   We urge allparties to renounce the pursuit of nuclear weapons, and to adoptpolicies that rule out their use.The Parliamentarians, civil society organisations, and prominentindividuals signed below hereby urge a solution to the crisis inrelations between the US and Iran, Israel and Iran, based on thefollowing clearly defined principles:1) No use of any military option whatsoever by any party for any reason.2) A clear commitment by all nuclear-armed parties not to use nuclearweapons in this situation, and a broader commitment to the doctrineof no first use of nuclear weapons.3) The implementation of the 1995 Non-Proliferation Treaty Resolutionon a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East, implementation ofthe annual consensus-adopted General Assembly resolutions on'Establishment of a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone in the region of theMiddle East', and particularly the full implementation of this yearsresolution on nuclear proliferation in the middle -east.4) A clear commitment by all parties to the global elimination ofnuclear weapons, including through reaffirming the Final Declarationof the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, and relevantGeneral Assembly resolutions.5) A diplomatic path to the removal of tensions between the US,Israel, and Iran, involving compromise on both sides, recognition ofthe legitimate security concerns of all parties including both Israeland Iran, and refraining from inflammatory statements or theexploration of military options by any party.SignedTadatoshi Akiba Mayor of Hiroshima President, Mayors for Peace,Abolition-2000 Global Council,Ron Mc Coy, President, Dr. Mary-Wynne Ashford, InternationalPhysicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW),Jennifer Nordstrom, WILPF Reaching Critical Will Project,Alfred L. Marder President,  International Association of PeaceMessenger Cities,Ak Malten, Global Anti Nuclear Alliance (GANA) The Hague, Neth,Peer de Rijk, director , World Information Service on Energy,Amsterdam Neth,Fiona H. Dove, Director, Transnational Institute, Amsterdam, Neth,Pol D'Huyvetter, For Mother Earth/Friends of the Earth Flanders,Ghent, Belgium, (Ab2000GlobalCouncil)Prof. H. Firket,  President of AMPGN ,IPPNW-BelgiumLeo Platvoet  Senator GREENLEFT, Belgium,Jean-Marie Matagne, Action des Citoyens pour le Désarmement Nucléaire (ACDN),Sophie Lefeez, Mouvement de la Paix, France,Phillipe Brousse, Jean-Yvon Landrac, Réseau "Sortir du nucléaire", France,Jean-Pierre Morichaud, Le Forum Plutonium, France,Fabrice Flipo, Vice-président, Amis de la Terre - FranceJeanne-Henriette Louis, Quakers-FranceGLOBAL 2000, Silva Herrmann, Energy Campaigner, Austria,Elvira Pöschko, Antiatom Szene, Pasching, Austria,Heinz Stockinger, Chair, PLAGE-SalzburgBernhard Piller, Swiss Energy Foundation, Zurich, SwitzerlandXanthe Hall, (Ab2000 Global Council/IPPNW Germany)Dr. Angelika Claußen, M.D.IPPNW-Germany,Gewaltfreie Aktion Atomwaffen Abschaffen (GAAA), Germany,Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft - Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen (DFG-VK),Roland Blach,  Trägerkreis "Atomwaffen abschaffen", Germany,Peter Nicholls, Chair, Abolition 2000 UK,George Farebrother, World Court Project, UK,Kate Hudson, Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) Lond, UK,Jill Stallard, CND Cymru, Wales,Jenny Maxwell, Chair, West Midlands CND, Birmingham UK,LYNNE JONES MP (Birmingham Selly Oak), UK,David Chaytor, MP for Bury North,Dr. Caroline Lucas MEP Green Party,South East England,Jean Lambert MEP - Green Party, LondonHallgeir H. Langeland, MP Norway,Bjørn Hilt Regional vice president of IPPNW in Europe, Norway,Holger Terp, Danish Peace Academy, Copenhagen,Povl Revsbech, MD Chair,  IPPNW, Danish AffiliateJuhani Mastokangas Friends of the Earth FinlandHeidi Hautala MP, Chairperson of the Green Parliamentary Group of Finland,Kati Juva, Chair, Dr. Jouni Ylinen Physicians for SocialResponsibility, Finland (PSR-Finland)Hnuti Duha, FOE-Czech Republic, Brno,Thanassis ANAPOLITANOS , MEDITERRANEAN ANTI NUCLEAR WATCH, GREECEProf. Dr. Leziz Onaran, President, Umur Gürsoy (MD)NUSED (IPPNW-Turkey)Ali Eltari President, Albanian Ecological Club,Kim Hye-Jeong, Secretary General, KFEM-FoE KoreaHiromichi Umebayashi, President, Peace Depot, Japanteve Leeper, Mayors for Peace United States,Alice Slater, GRACE, Abolition2000 Global Council,Patrick Groulx  founder - Iron John & Mary With A Snugly US,Helen Caldicott, President, Nuclear Policy Research Insititute (NPRI),James Galbraith, Chair, Economists for Peace and Security,Steven Starr, Physicians for Global Survival, Canada,Joanna Santa Barbara, Centre for Peace Studies, Mc Master Univ, Ont,Ray Morris, Co-Chair, KAIROS, Salmon Arm, BCEfraim Cruz-Marin, Académicos de Ciencias y Humanidades, Mexico,Diodorus Kamala MP, Tanzania,Achin Vanaik, Sukla Sen, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace,India,(CNDP)Sandeep Pandey and Arundhati Dhuru, National Alliance of People'sMovements (NAPM),Prof N.N. Murthy, IBRF, IndiaSonia S. Mendoza Chair,  Mother Earth Foundation - PhilippinesGordon F Copeland MP United Future - the Family Party NZJohn Hallam, Friends of the Earth Australia Sydney AustraliaJo Vallentine, People for Nuclear Disarmament, Western AustraliaDimity Hawkins, Executive Officer, Medical Association for thePrevention of War (MAPW),Rev Allan Thompson, General Secretary, Uniting Church in Victoria andTasmania,Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, Australian Democrats, SASenator Andrew Bartlett, Democrats, Qld,Senator Kerry Nettle, Greens, NSW,Kelly HoareMP, Member for Charlton NSW,Carmen Lawrence MP, Member for Fremantle, President, ALP,Julia Irwin MP Federal Member for Fowler,Lee Rhiannon Greens MLC, NSW,

Mary La Rosa, MLS, Samba NYC