Where is IAEA: Zakharova asks after Israeli minister urged nuking Gaza

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Nov 2023 10:34
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The Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson says the Israeli "Heritage" Minister's call for dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip confirmed that "Israel" owns a nuclear arsenal.

An undated image showing a partial view of the Dimona nuclear power plant in the southern occupied al-Naqab desert, occupied Palestine (Jack Guez/AFP)

After Israeli "Heritage" Minister Amihai Eliyahu said nuking the Gaza Strip is on the table in light of the ongoing aggression on the Palestinian people earlier on November 5, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced, on Tuesday, that this confirmed that "Israel" owned a nuclear arsenal.

Speaking to Solovyov Live, a media outlet, Zakharova underscored that "this raised a huge number of questions. Question number one — it turns out that we are hearing official statements about the presence of nuclear weapons? The following questions that everyone has — where are the international organizations, where is the IAEA [the International Atomic Energy Agency], where are the inspectors?"

In this same regard, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on November 6, to take action toward the nuclear disarmament of "Israel" after an Israeli minister acknowledged the potential use of a nuclear bomb in the Gaza Strip.

"Israeli regime minister's statements on the use of nukes testify to regime's true defeat against [the Palestinian] Resistance. UNSC & IAEA must act immediately & forthwith to disarm this ferocious & apartheid regime. Tomorrow's late. Full responsibility for this genocide rests with the White House," Amir-Abdollahian said on X.

Israeli regime minister's statements on use of nukes testify to regime's true defeat against Resistance. UNSC & IAEA must act immediately & forthwith to disarm this ferocious & apartheid regime. Tomorrow's late. Full responsibility of this genocide rests with the White House.
— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) November 6, 2023

The extremist Otzma Yehudit Minister was asked in an interview for Radio Kol Berama whether an atomic bomb should be dropped on Gaza, to which he replied by saying it was "one of the possibilities."

Eliyahu also underlined that he was staunchly opposed to any humanitarian aid making its way to Gaza, a statement which he backed by saying, "We wouldn't hand the Nazis humanitarian aid."

"There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza."

He is also eyeing Gaza with greed, saying he is in favor of the Israeli occupation taking control over the territory, as well as restoring the settlements that had been there before the Israeli occupation was forced out of there through armed struggle over a decade ago.

Eliyahu sees that the northern Gaza Strip has no right to exist, and when asked about the fate of the Palestinian people, he said they could "go to Ireland or deserts. The monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves."

'Israel' has nuclear weapons, admits former PM Barak

Earlier, in April of this year, former Israeli occupation Prime Minister Ehud Barak admitted that the occupation possesses nuclear weapons through a post he wrote on April 4.

"[...] political parties in the West are deeply concerned about the possibility that, if the coup in Israel succeeds, a messianic dictatorship will be established in the heart of the Middle East with nuclear weapons in its possession," Barak said on X.

Various statements have previously come from Israeli officials condemning the occupation as having or aiming to acquire an arsenal of nuclear weapons, such as former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who addressed Jewish scientists leaving Germany and called on them to put their minds to nuclear research and "do everything possible to provide the desired Jewish state with nuclear weapons."

Furthermore, former Israeli Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres addressed the Knesset in 1966, saying, "I see no reason why Israel sought to reassure [Egyptian President Gamal] Abdel Nasser through this platform and allow him to know what we are and are not doing. I know that the Arabs have their doubts about our nuclear ambitions, and I know that this is a means of deterrence. Why would we mitigate these concerns? Why would we work on clarifying that?"

Over the years, the Israeli occupation has adhered to a policy of ambiguity when it comes to its nuclear sector, but the most prominent thing that was leaked was a team of reporters from The Sunday Times saying in the early 90s that Mordechai Vanunu, the technician who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in "Israel", confirmed through photographs and government documents that the occupation had between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads with a variety of destructive capabilities.

Watch | High-resolution images of "Israel's" Dimona reactor are now available online. pic.twitter.com/bFIURt4SQZ
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 2, 2021

Moreover, the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper in 1977 quoted French General Georges Bouet as saying during an interview for the French Europe 1 radio that the occupation possessed at the time the means required to produce two atomic bombs a year, revealing that it also had 13 atomic bombs, as well as the means to get them to their targets.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported in 1978 that a New York radio station broadcast a classified documented report on September 4, 1974, prepared by the CIA, which stated, "We believe that Israel has indeed manufactured nuclear weapons."

Maariv also confirmed the report on March 2, 1978, citing a high-ranking CIA official, that then-US President Lyndon Johnson was informed that the Israeli occupation had nuclear weapons and its President ordered that the whole thing remain under covers.

The Israeli occupation challenged the UN Security Council Resolution 487 of June 1981, which required "Tel Aviv" to urgently submit all of its nuclear facilities to the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA, on September 18, 2009, issued a resolution calling on the occupation to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as open its facilities to international inspection, though the occupation did not express any interest in the matter.

Again, the UN General Assembly invited the occupation to become a treaty member in December 2009 following the UNGA Resolution "Establishment of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Region of the Middle East." Though 167 countries voted in favor of the resolution, the Israeli occupation refused to acquiesce in it.

Furthermore, "Tel Aviv" skipped the 2010 nuclear summit in Washington.