News / Palestine

Israel in damage control mode after shaming Obama, again

Tuesday, 09 August 2016 8:20 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 09 August 2016 8:42 AM ]

Avigdor Lieberman, the hard-line Israeli minister for military affairs (photo by AFP)

Israel has attempted to retrace its steps after sharply attacking the administration of US President Barack Obama over the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the United States.

The Israeli ministry of military affairs, run by hard-line Avigdor Lieberman, attacked Obama over the matter on Friday, a day after the US chief executive defended the accord.

It compared the agreement to a 1930s deal between France, Germany, England and Italy on the one side and Nazi Germany on the other, which was followed by Germany’s annexation of the then Czechoslovakia.

“The Munich agreement did not prevent the Second World War and the Holocaust,” the Friday statement by the Israeli ministry of military affairs read.

On Monday, however, the ministry attempted to do some damage control.

The statement, it said on Monday, “was in no way intended to draw comparisons, historical or personal. We regret if it was interpreted otherwise.”

The nuclear agreement was concluded between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, namely the US, the UK, France, Russia, China (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) plus Germany, in July 2015.

Israeli officials have publicly criticized President Obama for the efforts of his administration to seal the deal with Iran.

Israel has also repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

That right was internationally recognized under the nuclear agreement between Iran and the six world powers. Under the deal, Iran has also provided international monitors with enhanced access to its nuclear sites.

Unlike Iran, Israel, which is widely believed to possess between 200 and 400 nuclear warheads, is a non-signatory to the NPT and continues to defy international calls to join the treaty.

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