Prime Minister David Cameron took up his regular place
on a Wednesday before massed MPs in Parliament on 12 March, and once more
denounced North Korea and Iran for their respective possession and alleged
aspiration towards nuclear weapons.
But he wasn’t addressing the UK Parliament, but Israel’s Parliament, the
Knesset.
Critically observing Israel’s national security concerns, he bluntly
warned of:
“The
threat of a nuclear- armed Iran and perhaps the greatest challenge of all, the
poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism. And to people who try to say
that Israel is the cause of these problems. I say that fundamentally
misunderstands what these problems are about.
“Take Iran.
Israel is not the cause of the shadow that Iran casts over the world. There is
no rule that says if Israel and the Palestinians make peace, Iran is somehow
going to dismantle its despotic regime or abandon its nuclear intentions.
“That can only
be done through sustained international pressure. I share your deep scepticism
and great concern about Iran. I am not starry eyed about the new regime. A
nuclear armed Iran is a threat to the whole world – not just to Israel and with
Israel and all our allies, Britain will ensure that is never allowed to
happen.”
He went
on to call for:
“An end to the
outrageous lectures on human rights that Israel receives at the United Nations
from the likes of Iran and North Korea. .. An end to the ridiculous situation
where last year the United Nations General Assembly passed three times as many
resolutions on Israel as on Syria, Iran and North Korea put together.”
But for some reason, possibly he ran
out of time, he did not manage to mention Israel itself is heavily
nuclear-armed, with as many as 200 deadly warheads, and has been since
the 1960s. He also failed to find time to poin tout, unlike Iran, Israel has
refused to sign the 1968 Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, which has over 190
member states, and for which the UK is both an original co-author and one of
three depositary states.
A group of MPs in the UK parliament
has persistently called for Israel to join with its middle east neighbours to
agree a treaty outlawing all WMDs, and creating WMD free zone. It turns out, the Israeli Government has actually already
agreed to such talks.
At the completely overlooked Paris Summit of Mediterranean countries, held on 13 July 2008, under the co-presidency of the French Republic and the Arab Republic of Egypt and in the presence of Israel, which was represented by its then Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, the issue of peace within the region were explored in depth, and the final declaration stated the participants were in favor of:
"regional security by acting in favor of nuclear, chemical and biological non-proliferation through adherence to and compliance with a combination of international and regional nonproliferation regimes and arms control and disarmament agreements.."
The final document goes on to say:
At the completely overlooked Paris Summit of Mediterranean countries, held on 13 July 2008, under the co-presidency of the French Republic and the Arab Republic of Egypt and in the presence of Israel, which was represented by its then Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, the issue of peace within the region were explored in depth, and the final declaration stated the participants were in favor of:
"regional security by acting in favor of nuclear, chemical and biological non-proliferation through adherence to and compliance with a combination of international and regional nonproliferation regimes and arms control and disarmament agreements.."
The final document goes on to say:
"The parties shall pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical and biological, and their delivery systems. Furthermore the parties will consider practical steps to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as well as excessive accumulation of conventional arms; refrain from developing military capacity beyond their legitimate defense requirements, at the same time reaffirming their resolve to achieve the same degree of security and mutual confidence with the lowest possible levels of troops and weaponry and adherence to CCW (the convention on certain conventional weapons) promote conditions likely to develop good-neighborly relations among themselves and support processes aimed at stability, security"
(http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/er/101847.pdf)
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