TEHRAN- The United Nations General Assembly on Sunday voted 152-5 in favor of a resolution that demands Israel destroy all its nuclear weapons arsenal and allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit its nuclear facilities.

The vote was undertaken by the UN's First Committee which deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks out solutions to the challenges in the international security.

Four countries - Canada, Micronesia, Palau, and the United States - as well as the Israeli regime, opposed the resolution on the "risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East (West Asia)." Another 24 countries abstained, including some members of the European Union.

The resolution declares that Israel is the only entity in the West Asia region and one of the few UN members (193 total) that has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

The significant support for the resolution at the UNGA in New York reflects the widespread international frustration with the Israeli regime's nuclear threat in West Asia. This is especially true when the number of countries Israel has invaded or attacked and the countless number of genocides it has committed is taken into consideration. The existence of Israeli nukes has in essence made the occupying regime an extreme source of insecurity in the region.

The resolution reaffirmed "the importance of Israel’s accession to the NPT and placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, in realizing the goal of universal adherence to the Treaty in the Middle East (West Asia).”

It further called on Israel "to accede to the Treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce, test, or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons, and to place all its unsafe guarded nuclear facilities under the full scope of Agency safeguards as an important confidence-building measure among all States of the region and as a step toward enhancing peace and security."

Despite the extensive Western propaganda and hysteria focusing on Iran's nuclear program, which the IAEA has on different occasions deemed as peaceful, the resolution highlights how Israel is the real threat to the region.

On Friday a proposal for a nuclear-free zone West Asia was also accepted by the First Committee with 170 votes, including Iran. Not surprisingly perhaps, Israel was the only entity to, once again, oppose the text as it has similarly done at the United Nations many times before. The United States, Cameron, Comoros, and Tanzania were the only four nations to abstain.

Iran's Representative at the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, Heidar Ali Balouji, slammed Israel over its acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and enormous conventional military spending.

"In addition to its WMDs, the large arsenal of sophisticated offensive conventional weapons of the Israeli regime continues to threaten the peace and security of the region and beyond. This regime is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II," Balouji said.

“Last year, Israel with 5.2 percent of its GDP spent $24.3 billion [on military] and is among the top five military spenders in West Asia," he added.

In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu, a low-level technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant, hit the headlines when he exposed Israel's nuclear secrets to the world. The regime sent him to jail. In 2004 he completed an 18-year sentence, most of which was spent in solitary confinement. However, strict conditions were attached to his release, including a ban on leaving Israel, a ban on entering the Palestinian territories and a ban on speaking to foreign journalists.

Since his release, Vanunu has, at least, twice served jail terms after convictions for alleged parole violations.

Not only is Israel in possession of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, the regime has also been dumping its nuclear and radioactive waste in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians reside. According to many reports emerging over the past years, there are increasing fears of high rates of various types of cancers, and congenital malformations in the southern West Bank regions. 

Israel has turned the Palestinian towns and villages into a dumping ground for its nuclear and radioactive waste.

Further research in the Palestinian city of al-Khalil shows that residents there are suffering from radioactive pollution, with reports indicating that the radiation comes from the Israeli nuclear facilities and the storage of nuclear waste in the area.

It may also be a result of weapons containing depleted uranium used against the Palestinians.

Based to many studies and researches, is it widely believed that there is a strong link between radiation and nuclear waste from the Israeli Dimona reactor (where construction on the nuclear weapons plant was completed in 1963) and increase in cases of cancer in the southern West Bank. 

The same areas in the southern occupied West Bank did not witness any cases of cancer before the Israeli plant began manufacturing nuclear weapons. There are now many Palestinians suffering from cancer and congenital malformations as well as recurrent miscarriages of women.

According to one investigation by the Arabic Post, the Israeli authorities did not heed any official warnings by Palestinian officials, who expressed strong concern about the dangers of high levels of nuclear radiation in the atmosphere and groundwater of areas in the southern West Bank, in particular the city of al-Khalil (Hebron), which records annually record levels of cancer and fetal abnormalities.

In December 2021, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused Israel of burying dangerous nuclear waste such as burnt oils, chemical and electronic waste and others in the Palestinian territories; this constitutes a long-term threat to the Palestinian environment (soil, water, air and wildlife), in addition to the outbreak of cancer cases and congenital malformations.

“There are 6,251 cancer patients, which is a high percentage compared to neighboring countries,” Shtayyeh explained.

He has also attributed the reason to the fact that the Israelis use the occupied territories as a dumping ground for nuclear waste.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani has said the advanced Israeli nuclear program poses a serious threat to international security and stability.

"The advanced nuclear military program of the apartheid regime of Israel and the regime's continued reluctance to put its nuclear facilities under comprehensive safeguards and not to join the non-proliferation treaty is a serious threat to international security and the non-proliferation regime," Kanaani said in a post on social media.

The spokesperson has also urged the IAEA to fulfill its mandate in this regard.

It is worthy to note that the Israel regime is estimated to have 200 to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, owing to its deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear policy. It has repeatedly rebuffed inspections of its military nuclear facilities, not to mention refusing to sign the NPT.

However, Iran is a signatory to the NPT and has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is entirely civilian and subject to the most stringent UN oversight in the world.

The policy of double standards is very clear. When it comes to halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Israel is exempted from accountability. As a signatory to the NPT, Iran has a peaceful program for energy and medical purposes, yet it is subject to the most stringent inspection program in the history of the IAEA. However, the West has imposed the most painful sanctions regime on the Islamic Republic.

Israel, which has hundreds of nuclear warheads is not subject to any punitive measures. On the contrary, the regime is endlessly rewarded with more military weapons (paid for by American taxpayers), more money as well as more diplomatic and political support.