Halpern: Nuclear change, too

I'm thinking

by Micah Halpern

Because Israel has not signed on that dotted line, there is no supervision of Israel’s nuclear program. No inspectors, no surprise inspections. No accountability. Iran, on the other hand, has agreed - in principle if not entirely in practice - to open itself up to nuclear world scrutiny.

Some countries consider this situation to be unfair, unjust, an improper balance of affairs. They want Israel to come clean about their nukes — their capability, their arsenal, and their plans. They want Israel to admit to having nuclear technology and to allow international United Nations inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to roam free.

It used to be that the countries pushing Israel towards nuclear transparency were the enemies of Israel. Israel’s friend, the United States, has always accepted the status quo: Israel would fly under the nuclear international radar. Israel would do what it had to do, do what it was capable of doing and provide the United States broad stroke updates on technological developments. The extent of Israel’s nuclear prowess would remain top secret, but the United States would have a general idea of what was what.

That’s the way it used to be. But the situation has changed — another of the changes heaped upon Israel by this new administration.

When Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu chose not to go to the nuclear conference sponsored by the White House, that story became news. The prime minister made his decision after Israel disclosed that some conference participants intended to use the forum to pile on Israel — and the United States had no intention of putting them down.

What has not become news are reports that over the past few months Israeli nuclear scientists have been denied visa entry to the United States. The reports describe how Israel’s science community has been prevented from attending scientific and technical conferences in the States. Clearly, this is another indication of a change in the attitude of the United States toward Israel as a state and toward the state of Israel’s nuclear development.

No one should be surprised that Israel has nuclear technology. Israel operates under the assumption that having nukes improves security. The guiding principle stoking Israel’s nuclear development is the knowledge that unknown weapons of great strength will discourage enemy attack. The deterrence factor is the very essence of Israel’s nuclear program.

Israel began its nuclear program just weeks after declaring independence. The father of Israel’s nuclear program is none other than the current President of Israel and Noble Prize Laureate Shimon Peres. Peres was hand-picked by David Ben Gurion to develop the nuclear technology that would catapult Israel not only into the most advanced scientific country in the region, but also one of the biggest nuclear players in the world.

Israel has consistently remained mum on the issue of nuclear development and the United States has always supported that strategic plan. At times, Israel has even gone so far as to claim that they do not possess active nuclear weapons. That probably means that the technology is all there, it simply needs to be assembled or completed.

Those who demand that Israel come clean have, until now, been dictatorships, monarchies and Muslim-oriented states. Now the most powerful democracy in the Western world, the United States of America, is asking the same question Iran has been asking: why should Iran be so transparent when Israel does not permit any international inspection.

The answer is simple. There can be no comparison between a totalitarian theocracy and a democracy. Israeli leadership is accountable to its citizens and to a supreme court. Iran’s Supreme Leader is accountable to no one. A theocracy is answerable only to its religious interpretation. And that religious interpretation never takes into account the lives of innocents and of non-believers.

In the world of nuclear development Israel may now stand alone — but Israel stands strong.

Micah D. Halpern is a columnist and a social and political commentator. Read his latest book THUGS. He maintains The Micah Report at www.micahhalpern.com.