| Author | Message | | Guest-400c | | Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 4:55 am Post subject: Iraq Turns Spotlight on Israel at U.N. Arms Body |
| http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=RN0PD2ABJEUYCCRBAELCFFA?type=worldNews&storyID=2142086
Iraq Turns Spotlight on Israel at U.N. Arms Body
Thu January 30, 2003 12:08 PM ET
By Stephanie NebehayGENEVA (Reuters) - Iraq accused Israel on Thursday of harboring biological, chemical and nuclear weapons -- turning the spotlight on the Jewish state at the main United Nations arms control body.Iraqi ambassador Samir Al-Nima and Israel's Yaakov Levy also traded insults over their countries' leaders during speeches to the Geneva-based U.N. Conference on Disarmament.Syria and Algeria joined in the heated debate at the 66-member forum, while the U.S. delegation kept quiet during attacks on Israel, its close ally.The row erupted after Levy appealed for a Middle East free of biological, chemical and nuclear arms and accused "certain countries" of seeking weapons of mass destruction and supplying "terrorist groups" with conventional arms and rockets.But Iraqi envoy Al-Nima retorted: "The international community has not seen practical steps taken by Israel to disarm in the nuclear field."We all know Israel has nuclear arms and has signed the treaty banning chemical weapons, but nobody knows where their stocks are. We also know Israel has biological weapons, but nobody knows where those stocks are."An Israeli Defense Ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the Iraqi remarks.Israel is widely believed to have about 300 nuclear warheads but it policy is never to discuss the issue.Envoys from Syria and Algeria expressed regret that Israel had not opened its nuclear facilities to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency -- whose inspectors are scouring Iraq as the threat of a U.S.-led war looms.Levy pointed out that Israel had been hit by 39 Iraqi Scud ballistic missiles during the 1991 Gulf War when a U.S.-led alliance drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait.Israel, which backs U.S.-led military action to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, did not retaliate last time, but has vowed to do so in a future Gulf War if Iraq attacks it with non-conventional weapons or causes major damage."The Israeli envoy spoke of my country without naming it. But Israel is no longer hiding its aggressive ideas and intentions against my country and in fact is trying to incite this war against my country daily," Al-Nima said.
US/UN Double Standard When It Comes to Israeli Weapons of Mass Destruction:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/09/15/us-un-double-standard-when-it-comes-to-israel.php | |  | | Guest-400c | | | | Guest-cdbc | | | | Guest-c651 | | Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 4:18 am Post subject: Israel: Germs, gas and A-bombs |
| Israel: Germs, gas and A-bombs
Fingers on all the buttons
By Neil Sammonds
The world's best-known and most efficient 'secret' manufacturer of
weapons of mass destruction is not Iraq, not even North Korea, but
Israel. Neil Sammonds looks at a nuclear, biological and chemical
warfare programme that even the Israeli Knesset cannot get access
to, let alone the United Nations.
In September 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, a technician at Israel's
Dimona nuclear site, revealed to the Sunday Times that the nuclear
military programme based there had produced 'over 200' nuclear
warheads.
Days later he was tricked into flying to Rome where he was
abducted by Mossad agents and secretly transported to Israel. In
November 1986, he was tried in camera and sentenced to 18 years'
imprisonment, 14 of which were spent in solitary confinement.
In 1999, in response to a petition from Yediot Ahronot newspaper,
the government released about 40 per cent of the trial documents.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists estimates that Israel has the
world's fifth largest stockpile of nuclear warheads (more than
Britain, which it believes has 185).
In February 2000, Knesset member Issam Mahoul said Israel had
'200 to 300' nuclear weapons; in August of that year, the Federation
of American Scientists said that Israel could have produced 'at least
100 nuclear weapons, but probably not significantly more than 200';
the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates
200.
Other sources, including Jane's Intelligence Review, estimate
between 400 and 500 thermonuclear and nuclear weapons.
What Dimona is to Israel's nuclear programme, the Israeli Institute
for Biological Research (IIBR) at Nes Ziona is to its chemical and
biological warfare (CBW) programme. The high-security facility is
absent from aerial survey photographs and maps, on which it has
been replaced by orange groves.
Except for token visits to Dimona by a Norwegian team in 1961 and
a US team in 1969, there has been no international scrutiny. Even
the Knesset is denied access.
However, the 1993 report by the Office of Technology Assessment
for the US Congress states that Israel has 'undeclared offensive
chemical warfare capabilities' and is 'generally reported as having
an undeclared offensive biological warfare programme'.
Anthony Cordesman of the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies states that Israel has conducted extensive research into gas
warfare and is ready to produce biological weapons.
According to an exhaustive study by Karel Knip, a Dutch journalist,
the IIBR's work has included the synthesis of nerve gases such as
tabun, sarin and VX.
The October 1992 crash an of El Al cargo plane in Amsterdam that
caused at least 47 deaths and caused hundreds of immediate and
subsequent mysterious illnesses led to the disclosure in 1998 that
flight LY1862 was carrying chemicals including 50 gallons of
dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) - enough to produce 594
pounds of sarin. The DMMP was supplied by Solkatronic Chemicals
Inc of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and was destined for the IIBR.
Avner Cohen has catalogued reported uses of biological weapons
by Jewish forces during the 1948 war in Palestine. The Israeli
historian Uri Milstein alleged that 'in many conquered Arab villages,
the water supply was poisoned to prevent the inhabitants from
coming back.' Milstein states that one of the largest of such covert
operations caused the typhoid outbreak in Acre in May 1948.
The Palestinian Arab Higher Committee reported in July 1948 that
there was some evidence that Jewish forces were responsible for a
cholera outbreak in Egypt in November 1947 and in Syrian villages
near the Palestinian-Syrian border in February 1948.
In May 1948, the Egyptian ministry of defence stated that four
'zionists' had been captured while trying to contaminate artesian
wells in Gaza with 'a liquid which was discovered to contain germs
of dysentery and typhoid'.
In 1954, it was widely reported that defence minister Pinchas Lavon
had proposed using BW for special operations. Cohen says: 'Israel
has presumably employed biological or toxin weapons for special
operations.'
In 1955, Prime Minister Ben Gurion ordered the weaponisation and
stockpiling of chemical weapons in case of a war with Egypt.
Former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky claims that lethal tests have
been performed on Arab prisoners at the IIBR.
There are allegations that Israel has used CBW on numerous
occasions:
* Chemical defoliants used by the army against Palestinian lands,
including Ain el-Beida in 1968, Araqba in 1972 and Mejdel Beni
Fadil in 1978;
* Armed nuclear missiles in the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars;
* Chemical weapons in the 1982 war on Lebanon, including
hydrogen cyanide, nerve gas and phosphorus shells;
* In the 1980s lethal gases against Palestinian civilians and
Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli Jewish prisoners.
Discussing delivery systems, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists states
that Israel's F-16 squadrons based at Nevatim and Ramon are the
most likely carriers of nuclear warheads and that a small group of
pilots has been trained for nuclear strikes.
According to the Sunday Times, F-16s crews are also 'trained to fit
an active chemical or biological weapon within minutes of receiving
the command to attack'. Israel's F-4s, F-15s and Jaguars are also
nuclear-capable.
Israel's Jericho I (with a range of 660km) and Jericho II (1,500km)
missiles are nuclear-capable. The Shavit satellite launch vehicle is
convertible into an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of
7,800km.
Israel also has three Dolphin-class submarines, the Dolphin, the
Leviathan and the Tekuma, which are reportedly modified to carry
nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
It is widely believed to possess a tactical nuclear capability,
including small nuclear landmines, and strategic nuclear warheads
that it can fire from cannons.
The UN Security Council regularly calls on Israel 'urgently to place
its nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic
Energy Agency.'
Israel has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons
Convention, but is one of only four countries in the world - with
Cuba, India and Pakistan - not to have signed the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty .
* This article first appeared in issue 1/03 of Index on Censorship:
Inside the Axis of Evil.
http://www.indexonline.org/news/20030301_103_sammonds.shtml | | | | Guest-c651 | | Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 4:20 am Post subject: Israel: Germs, gas and A-bombs |
| Israel: Germs, gas and A-bombs
Fingers on all the buttons
By Neil Sammonds
The world's best-known and most efficient 'secret' manufacturer of
weapons of mass destruction is not Iraq, not even North Korea, but
Israel. Neil Sammonds looks at a nuclear, biological and chemical
warfare programme that even the Israeli Knesset cannot get access
to, let alone the United Nations.
In September 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, a technician at Israel's
Dimona nuclear site, revealed to the Sunday Times that the nuclear
military programme based there had produced 'over 200' nuclear
warheads.
Days later he was tricked into flying to Rome where he was
abducted by Mossad agents and secretly transported to Israel. In
November 1986, he was tried in camera and sentenced to 18 years'
imprisonment, 14 of which were spent in solitary confinement.
In 1999, in response to a petition from Yediot Ahronot newspaper,
the government released about 40 per cent of the trial documents.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists estimates that Israel has the
world's fifth largest stockpile of nuclear warheads (more than
Britain, which it believes has 185).
In February 2000, Knesset member Issam Mahoul said Israel had
'200 to 300' nuclear weapons; in August of that year, the Federation
of American Scientists said that Israel could have produced 'at least
100 nuclear weapons, but probably not significantly more than 200';
the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates
200.
Other sources, including Jane's Intelligence Review, estimate
between 400 and 500 thermonuclear and nuclear weapons.
What Dimona is to Israel's nuclear programme, the Israeli Institute
for Biological Research (IIBR) at Nes Ziona is to its chemical and
biological warfare (CBW) programme. The high-security facility is
absent from aerial survey photographs and maps, on which it has
been replaced by orange groves.
Except for token visits to Dimona by a Norwegian team in 1961 and
a US team in 1969, there has been no international scrutiny. Even
the Knesset is denied access.
However, the 1993 report by the Office of Technology Assessment
for the US Congress states that Israel has 'undeclared offensive
chemical warfare capabilities' and is 'generally reported as having
an undeclared offensive biological warfare programme'.
Anthony Cordesman of the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies states that Israel has conducted extensive research into gas
warfare and is ready to produce biological weapons.
According to an exhaustive study by Karel Knip, a Dutch journalist,
the IIBR's work has included the synthesis of nerve gases such as
tabun, sarin and VX.
The October 1992 crash an of El Al cargo plane in Amsterdam that
caused at least 47 deaths and caused hundreds of immediate and
subsequent mysterious illnesses led to the disclosure in 1998 that
flight LY1862 was carrying chemicals including 50 gallons of
dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) - enough to produce 594
pounds of sarin. The DMMP was supplied by Solkatronic Chemicals
Inc of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and was destined for the IIBR.
Avner Cohen has catalogued reported uses of biological weapons
by Jewish forces during the 1948 war in Palestine. The Israeli
historian Uri Milstein alleged that 'in many conquered Arab villages,
the water supply was poisoned to prevent the inhabitants from
coming back.' Milstein states that one of the largest of such covert
operations caused the typhoid outbreak in Acre in May 1948.
The Palestinian Arab Higher Committee reported in July 1948 that
there was some evidence that Jewish forces were responsible for a
cholera outbreak in Egypt in November 1947 and in Syrian villages
near the Palestinian-Syrian border in February 1948.
In May 1948, the Egyptian ministry of defence stated that four
'zionists' had been captured while trying to contaminate artesian
wells in Gaza with 'a liquid which was discovered to contain germs
of dysentery and typhoid'.
In 1954, it was widely reported that defence minister Pinchas Lavon
had proposed using BW for special operations. Cohen says: 'Israel
has presumably employed biological or toxin weapons for special
operations.'
In 1955, Prime Minister Ben Gurion ordered the weaponisation and
stockpiling of chemical weapons in case of a war with Egypt.
Former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky claims that lethal tests have
been performed on Arab prisoners at the IIBR.
There are allegations that Israel has used CBW on numerous
occasions:
* Chemical defoliants used by the army against Palestinian lands,
including Ain el-Beida in 1968, Araqba in 1972 and Mejdel Beni
Fadil in 1978;
* Armed nuclear missiles in the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars;
* Chemical weapons in the 1982 war on Lebanon, including
hydrogen cyanide, nerve gas and phosphorus shells;
* In the 1980s lethal gases against Palestinian civilians and
Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli Jewish prisoners.
Discussing delivery systems, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists states
that Israel's F-16 squadrons based at Nevatim and Ramon are the
most likely carriers of nuclear warheads and that a small group of
pilots has been trained for nuclear strikes.
According to the Sunday Times, F-16s crews are also 'trained to fit
an active chemical or biological weapon within minutes of receiving
the command to attack'. Israel's F-4s, F-15s and Jaguars are also
nuclear-capable.
Israel's Jericho I (with a range of 660km) and Jericho II (1,500km)
missiles are nuclear-capable. The Shavit satellite launch vehicle is
convertible into an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of
7,800km.
Israel also has three Dolphin-class submarines, the Dolphin, the
Leviathan and the Tekuma, which are reportedly modified to carry
nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
It is widely believed to possess a tactical nuclear capability,
including small nuclear landmines, and strategic nuclear warheads
that it can fire from cannons.
The UN Security Council regularly calls on Israel 'urgently to place
its nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic
Energy Agency.'
Israel has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons
Convention, but is one of only four countries in the world - with
Cuba, India and Pakistan - not to have signed the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty .
* This article first appeared in issue 1/03 of Index on Censorship:
Inside the Axis of Evil.
http://www.indexonline.org/news/20030301_103_sammonds.shtml | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
