Israel: national features of (not) possessing nuclear weapons  Eidelman's and Shmulevich's opinions on Caliber.Az

The UN General Assembly called on Israel to take "immediate steps" to surrender its nuclear weapons and fully implement the UN resolutions on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. This was reported by the Middle East Monitor news portal.

A total of 149 member countries voted in favor of the resolution, and 26 countries abstained, including India and many European states; only Israel, the US, Canada, Micronesia, Palau, and Liberia spoke against it.

Among other provisions, the draft resolution calls for immediate steps toward the full implementation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) resolution in the Middle East. A key component of the package of measures adopted in the treaty provides for the creation of "a zone free of nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East," including "means of their delivery", EADaily reports.

The UN insists that Israel must: "...accede to the Treaty without delay, not develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, renounce possession of them, and place all its unsafeguarded nuclear facilities under full-scope International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision."

However, Israel neither recognizes nor denies the existence of a nuclear arsenal, being an unofficial, "shadow" nuclear state: the country is believed to have acquired nuclear weapons in the 1960s. Israel is also not a party to the NPT and has not accepted IAEA safeguards. The UN General Assembly resolution assumes that Israel has such weapons and calls for it to join the NPT.

Former Egyptian Foreign Minister and Secretary General of the LAS (League of Arab States) Amr Moussa said that in conversations with his Israeli counterparts on this subject, they avoided answering and considered such an ambiguous provision a guarantee of their security. In this context, the words of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir were famous: "First of all, we do not have nuclear weapons, and second, if necessary, we will use them".

So what does this resolution mean for Israel itself? How do they feel about it? Will it have any practical consequences? Does Israel actually have such a weapon, or is it more of a speculation? Or a deliberate myth to avoid threats from unfriendly neighbors?

Prominent Israeli experts answered these questions for Caliber.Az.

"The main argument that Israel has no nuclear weapons, but that it will use them if necessary, you have already named without me," says political scientist, cultural scientist, and political and social activist David Eidelman. - The only thing I can add is that our former prime minister and president Shimon Peres, with whom I had the privilege of working, was often asked one question by Russian and other journalists which I had to translate: why do you think that Israel can have nuclear weapons, while, say, Iran must not? Why is it so unfair? Peres always answered one thing (the last time he was asked this by an Armenian journalist, I remember): 'In today's world, only those who are guaranteed not to use nuclear weapons can have them. Israel will not use nuclear weapons, but it must have them'. That is, it was such an answer without acknowledgment.

We have practically no discussions on this issue, the only time there was a surge was when Ukraine voted for a United Nations resolution calling Israel to renounce its nuclear arsenal. We were somehow very surprised that Ukraine, on the one hand, is constantly outraged and demands arms supplies from Israel, and on the other hand, wants to disarm Israel itself. It surprised us."

In his turn, Avraham Shmulevich, an expert on the Caucasus, the Islamic world, and the Middle East and chairman of the Eastern Partnership Institute (Jerusalem), said that practically all serious experts who write on this subject agree that Israel has nuclear weapons. Israel is included in all lists of countries with nuclear weapons. There are various estimates of how many nuclear bombs Israel has, and they range quite widely.

"I remember leading American and British military journals putting Israel somewhere in fourth place in the world for nuclear power, right after the United States, Russia, and China. There are more modest estimates as well. In any case, again, experts agree that Israel apparently has all types of nuclear warheads available today - both neutron and hydrogen bombs and that Israel is one of the few countries that have delivery vehicles in all three environments - that is, sea-based (these are submarines, Israel has several of them carrying nuclear charges), air-based, and ground-based ballistic missiles," Shmulevich noted.

"A few years ago, when Russia actively entered Syria and the borders of mutual interests were being delineated, the Russian press published articles about a possible nuclear strike on Israel. Suddenly, they began to recall Russian military figures who in their memoirs told that even during the Six-Day War, the USSR was ready to launch a nuclear strike," the expert said.

"And there were rather harsh statements of Russian politicians with regard to Israel. This was followed by equally harsh statements by the Israelis, and Prime Minister Netanyahu, speaking at a military base, uttered literally the following: 'Israel can destroy any object anywhere in the world.' After that, the mutual claims stopped, and Israel and Russia drew mutual red lines. That is, Netanyahu's statement was quite eloquent. Israel is also considered to have the best air defence system in the world, including against ballistic missiles," says Shmulevich.

As for the current UN resolution, it is passed every year and is not binding, he noted.

"But it is very remarkable that it concerns Israel. For example, nothing is said about Iran, whose leadership makes territorial claims to all neighboring countries, including Azerbaijan, and says that its strategic goal is to destroy our state. However, the UN completely ignores these statements, and the fact that Iran is developing nuclear weapons does not bother the UN. Nor is the UN concerned about Russia, which is practically threatening to use nuclear weapons through Putin and other top leaders of the state. This too, for some reason, is not in the UN's sphere of interest. And Israel, which threatens no one and has a reputation for complying with international treaties and obligations, is somehow in the UN spotlight. Although there has never yet been a case of a neighboring Arab country complaining that Israel is threatening to destroy it with nuclear weapons," Shmulevich concluded.