Israel claim Syria had nuclear materials.

There is a rather startling report in today's London Times which claims that Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month.

The report quotes unnamed "informed sources" within Washington and Jerusalem. One would think that if Israel actually had such concrete proof of Syria and North Korea colluding in such material that they would not be relying on anonymous "informed sources" to let us know what was actually going on and would be holding press conferences to show the world why they had behaved in the way that they have.

The very fact that we have to rely on such sources makes me very suspicious that we are actually being fed a line here. The Israeli government, with the exception of Bibi, have gone uncharacteristically quiet on this subject and appear happy to let "informed sources" carry the company line whilst offering no proof to back up these assertions.

Meanwhile at United Nations, Tehran upped the ante by calling for UN inspectors to be sent into Israel to check for nuclear weapons:

Iranian delegate Ail Asghar Soltanieh _ like Arab delegates before him _ said Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had acknowledged last year that his country possessed nuclear weapons _ something Olmert says he never did.

Soltanieh also criticized "the continuous silence of the U.S. ... vis a vis the atrocities, aggression, bloodshed and violations of over 30 resolutions of the United Nations.''

That, he said, is "shameful and (a) dark point in the history of the United Nations, and the IAEA and the modern century at large.''

In turn, Israeli delegate Israel Michaeli alluded to claims that Olmert acknowledged Israel's nuclear weapons, saying, some previous speakers "continued to lie.''

"Those who call for the elimination of Israel have no moral standing when they criticize Israeli policies aimed at defending Israel's very existence,'' Michaeli said.

Soltanieh, in response, challenged the IAEA to send its inspectors into the country "to verify who is telling the truth.''

And, of course, the US approved "nuclear ambiguity" of the Israelis points up the hypocrisy of the US/Israeli horror at other nations in the Middle East attempting to acquire nuclear weapons.

And Israel Michaeli's claims that people are lying when they state that Olmert admitted that Israel was a nuclear power, really is asking that we suspend all disbelief. Here is what Olmert said:

"Iran openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as France, America, Russia and Israel?"

Of course, Tehran's demands that Israel be subject to the same level of nuclear inspections as we demand of them will be deemed irresponsible talk. The blather of madmen.

However, the whole argument about Tehran's wish to acquire a nuclear weapon cannot seriously be resolved until we decide whether or not we are serious about our commitments under the NNPT. Our side of the bargain is that we will disarm as long as other powers desist from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Israel's "nuclear ambiguity" is only the most obvious example of our hypocrisy. Blair recommissioning Trident and Bush developing a new range of "bunker busting" nuclear weapons are another two examples which spring to mind, where we demand others obey a treaty which we ourselves are in blatant violation of.

In the meantime, Israel feels that she only has to send out "informed sources" to talk of Syrian nuclear materials in order to justify an Israeli incursion into Syrian territory.

But just imagine reversing that. Imagine what would happen if the Syrians had invaded Israeli airspace and bombed suspected Israeli nuclear sites?

It's unimaginable isn't it? A bit like imagining there would ever be a day when UN inspectors would be allowed to wander through Dimona.

"Do as we say, not as we do" appears to be our official policy when it comes to the nuclear issue. And we wonder why we find ourselves in our current situation vis a vis Iran?

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Tags: Israel, Syria, Iran, Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, NNPT