The head of the UN atomic watchdog is asking for international input on how to persuade Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in a move that is sure to add to pressure on the Jewish state to disclose its unacknowledged nuclear arsenal.
In a letter made available Wednesday, Yukiya Amano asked foreign ministers of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 151 member states to share views on how to implement a resolution demanding that Israel “accede to the” Non-Proliferation Treaty and throw its nuclear facilities open to IAEA oversight.
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Amano’s April 7 letter comes seven months after IAEA member states at their annual conference narrowly passed a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program, with 49 of the 110 nations present backing the document, 45 against and 16 abstaining.
The result was a setback not only for Israel but also for Washington and other backers of the Jewish state, which had lobbied for 18 years of past practice – debate on the issue without a vote. It also reflected building tensions between Israel and its backers and Islamic nations, supported by developing countries.
The resolution “expresses concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities,” and links it to “concern about the threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons for the security and stability of the Middle East.”
Ahmadinejad must be peeing his pants with joy at the moment.
44:05PM: Britain’s answer to Barack Obama, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, would like to allay fears that he is anti-Israel. And H’aretz is more than willing to provide him with the platform.
Though Cleggmania is rife in the U.K., Jerusalem is sunk in a Clegg-pression.
“Clegg is bad news for Israel,” one official here said. “His party is running on a human rights platform, and the atmosphere is hostile to Israel. We remind the Liberal Democrats of South Africa during apartheid. Even if Clegg decides not to take the foreign portfolio, the very fact that Liberal Democrats sit in the cabinet is likely to mean trouble for us.”
In the wake of the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead, the Liberal Democrats asked for an arms embargo on Israel, and to suspend its preferential trade status with the European Union. The party was also behind the demand to mark Israeli products made in the West Bank.
In December, Clegg was at the head of the list of signatories of a letter attacking the Israeli government for the blockade on Gaza. “The confinement and punishment of an entire population is no way to bring about peace for all of the people of the Middle East,” the letter read.
Most of the bad blood was created by Baroness Jenny Tonge, a former Liberal Democrat MP, who became a member of the House of Lords in 2005. A year earlier, Tonge announced that if she were a Palestinian living under occupation, she would herself have become a suicide bomber. In 2006, she said that the pro-Israel lobby exerted a “financial grip” on her party and on Britain.
In February, she went even further and called for an investigation into claims that IDF soldiers who were sent to aid Haitian earthquake victims were involved in harvesting body organs from the dead. Her remarks caused a storm and Clegg fired her from her job as shadow health spokesperson.
“Too little, too late,” a member of the British Jewish community said. “In light of the blood libel, he should have expelled her from the party.”
Clegg, who called Tonge’s remarks “wrong, distasteful and provocative,” says that he is “a very staunch defender of the people of Israel, of a very staunch defender of the rights of the Jewish community here in Britain, a community which is feeling quite beleaguered at the moment because of the rise in anti-Semitism and the rise in prejudice generally.”
He recently criticized the cooperation of British Conservatives in the European Parliament with extreme right-wing parties in Eastern Europe, whom he terms, “nutters, anti-Semitic, and homophobic.”
“As to the accusations that I am hostile to Israel, my actions prove the opposite. I have always sharply opposed various efforts to impose academic and cultural sanctions on Israel. I am also one of those who said that Britain should not have participated in the Durban 2 conference when it became clear that it would turn into an anti-Israel event.”
“I have tremendous admiration for the state of Israel and its people. When I visited, I was once again exposed to the genius of this nation, which has managed to maintain a democratic regime and a thriving and open economy, despite its existence under a constant threat. This is a great achievement.
But we must distinguish clearly between the Israeli and the Jewish people on the one hand, and certain actions of the Israeli government on the other. If I have criticism it is focused solely on these actions. I plan to continue to voice my thoughts, which stem from honest and legitimate concern, and in my estimation that the long term interests of the people of Israel are not being met properly at this time.”
Clegg rejects speaking to Hamas “as long as Hamas continues to nurture an extremist ideology of violence and terror. I totally understand the feelings of the residents of Sderot who are under constant missile attacks that are meant to impose terror. My condemnations of Hamas have always been clear and unequivocal, and the same is true of my attitude toward the fact that Israel has the full right to defend its inhabitants. That is the role of every country and every government.
“However,” he adds, “I don’t understand the Israeli strategy regarding Gaza. The imposition of the siege against 1.5 million people, many of them young people who become increasingly itter, and the disproportionate use of force.
Operation Cast Lead did of course bring about a certain neutralization of the attackers and the missile attacks ¬ but did it reduce the bitterness prevailing between the peoples, did it weaken Hamas’ position, and did it guarantee Israel’s long-term security interests? I’m not at all certain.”
Clegg comes out against Israel’s “continued development of the illegal settlements,” he welcomes the approaching proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and as far as Hamas is concerned, he says: “The only way to deal with Hamas is to work to split the organization between the extremists who want to destroy the peace process and those who are willing over the long term to recognize Israel and to work to find a solution in a non-violent manner.”
Clegg rejects out of hand the claim that the British public is today the most “anti-Israel” in Europe.
“Operation Cast Lead and incidents like falsifying documents in Dubai do create tension, but just as I would never treat any public criticism of some activity or other of the British government as an anti-British attitude, in the same way, British criticism of the policy of the Israeli government should not be treated as ‘anti-Israeli,'” he says.
In December 2009, 51 of the 63 members of the Liberal Democrats stood behind a draft bill in the Parliament in support of universal jurisdiction, which allows private citizens to apply for the arrest of Israeli politicians for alleged war crimes while they are on British soil.
But here’s what you need to know about Nick Clegg.
(L-R): Mrs. Clegg, Mr. Clegg, Archbishop Grigorios of Thyateira & GB, and Mr. Auchi
Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader, who is coming into the upcoming British elections in an enhanced position is close, very close, to Nadhmi Auchi.
If you care about shady characters behind those who rule I suggest you indulge yourself in a crash course on Mr. Auchi.
His personal fortune in excess of two billion Sterling makes him Britain’s 32nd richest person. He has lived in Britain since 1980.
Nahmi Auchi supports Hamas, providing aid and comfort to the terror group.
Auchi has funded the notorious George Galloway in his ‘Viva Palestina’ aids convoy with which he tried to break the blockage on Gaza.
Auchi recently said, “In the past the Arab community has not actvely participated in British political life (!). I believe this is changing and we are now close to finding a party that is not only sympathetic to our views but whose policies actively seek to address our concerns”.
Nadhmi Auchi made these remarks at a fund raising banquet in honour of Nick Clegg.
Auchi established the Anglo-Arab Organisation to promote understanding between Britain and the Arab world.
Auchi funds one of the most anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, websites in Britain.
Auchi’s Middle East Online website promotes material from well-known anti-Israelis, including Jeff Gates who runs the anti-Israel ‘Criminal State’ blog.
Lord Steel, former Liberal Democrats leader, is a director of Auchi’s main company, General Mediterranean Holdings, the centre of his global empire that includes hotels, leisure, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunication firms.
The banquet was organised under the Anglo-Arab Organisation banner. Alan Duncan, a Conservative Shadow Minister, is listed as a patron.
At the banquet, Clegg said that ‘the Arab community’s values sit deep in the soul of the Liberal Democrats. I feel that there is a conjunction of aspirations, hopes, and values between members of the British Arab community and many of the things that the Liberal Democracts stand for today’.
The Liberal Democrat leader has condemned Israel’s action in Gaza saying “We will not stand aside when unimaginable human suffering is taking place”.
Nahmi Auchi was convicted of fraud in the French Elf-Aquitaine oil company trial in 2003. He was given a suspended sentence.
Auchi is also involved in the case of a convicted Chicago fraudster, Tony Rezko, who was involved in a land deal with Barack Obama. A US court revoked Rezko’s bail when prosecutors discovered that Auchi had wired Rezko $3,500,000 from a Lebanese account.
Auchi is banned from into the US. Since 2003 Auchi has invested heavily in Iraq.
In short, Nick Clegg is a puppet of Arab interests and connected with an Arab billionaire and fraudster.
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Britain may already be lost to Muslim domination and interests but if Clegg is close to Downing Street power, as is likely following the televised debates, then caring british Jews can already hehe nails being driven into the coffin of their vital interests in that lost nation.
12:56PM: Quote of the day:
“I don’t want to exaggerate, but these are the same explanations we heard in Nazi Germany after World War II.”
– Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon reacting to Richard Goldstone’s excuse for sending 28 black South Africans to death during the apartheid regime, that he was a part of the system and had to respect the laws of the state.
Tou to the che.
6:12AM: Richard Goldstone says he has no regrets about the Goldstone Report, nor sending black South Africans to their deaths.
Judicial decisions Richard Goldstone made in South Africa that resulted in sending black South Africans to their deaths under the apartheid regime have nothing to do with his report on the Gaza war, he told Haaretz yesterday.
The comments came in response to an article in which he was accused of being in no moral position to judge Israel because he was involved in capital punishment in the apartheid regime.
The article in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily said Goldstone, who headed the UN committee that accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes during the Gaza war of 2008-2009, was responsible for sending at least 28 black South Africans to their deaths when they appeared before him in court.
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no connection to the appointment I had in South Africa to these accusations,” said Goldstone, who calls himself pro-Zionist. “I took an appointment to the bench, as did a number of liberal judges, and we had to uphold the law of the country. It was a moral dilemma to do that, but the approach was that it was better to fight from inside than not at all. The moral dilemma came up when I had to apply the law.”
Goldstone said he sentenced only two people to death directly, but upheld a majority of appeals in the Supreme Court, as one of three judges on a panel.
“The law at the time stated that when there were aggravating circumstances, the death penalty was obligatory,” he said. “The regrets I have now are the same that I had at the time. I have not changed my position on this. It was unpleasant to be involved in capital punishment – then and now. And I’ve always been against the death penalty. But when I accepted the position to the bench I had to honor the oath of office.”
Regarding the UN report on the Gaza war, for which many Jewish groups have attacked Goldstone, the judge said he has no regrets about the position he took.
“I felt that because I was Jewish, it would be hypocritical not to get involved in the Middle East,” he said. He said he advises Israel to have an open public inquiry into the war crimes allegations.
Goldstone said he was “extremely upset” by the attacks and by the effect they have had on his family.
Some members of the Jewish community had tried to keep Goldstone away from his grandson’s recent bar mitzvah in Johannesburg because they objected to his position on Operation Cast Lead.
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
