UN committee votes for Israel to dispose of nuclear weapons, allow int'l inspectors

The United Nations General Assembly's First Committee voted for Israel to dispose of all nuclear weapons and have any and all nuclear sites under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The resolution passed overwhelmingly on Friday with a vote of 152-5 vote, with only the United States, Canada, Israel, Micronesia, and Palau voting against it. The European Union and 23 others abstained, Fox News reported on November 1, citing the Jerusalem Post.

Despite officially being a resolution on the "risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East," the resolution – submitted by Egypt as it does annually – focused mainly on Israel without mentioning Iran.

"That's unfortunate because all those countries who voted on this resolution should ask themselves what is the source of instability in the region," former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told Fox News Digital. "It's Israel or Iran? What is the danger and the threat to the region? And I think that they all know that the threat's coming from Iran and not Israel."
Israel has never even acknowledged possessing nuclear weapons, although it is widely speculated that it does. The resolution reportedly referenced that Israel has not signed the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty.

Iran, meanwhile, has been trying to develop its own nuclear program. The Islamic nation, despite having signed the non-proliferation treaty, has been enriching uranium to levels approaching what is needed for weapons.

President Biden's administration has been working to reenter a nuclear deal with Iran after former President Donald Trump pulled out of the old agreement entered into by former President Barack Obama. Critics warn that any new deal must be tougher and last longer than Obama's deal.

"What we are seeing now is shorter and weaker," Dannon said in August.

With Israel holding elections on Tuesday that could see the return of Benjamin Netanyahu to the prime minister's office, and the U.S. holding midterm elections next week that Republicans hope will benefit them, Danon thinks there is an opportunity to be tough on Iran.

"I think we have a strong bond. regardless of the elections, but I think if we will win, if Netanyahu will return to his position as prime minister, we will be able to put the issue of Iran on the front lines and we will expect our colleagues in the U.S. also to address this threat," Danon said.