Press TV has conducted an interview with Richard Silverstein, journalist and political commentator from Seattle, for his take on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) failure to adopt a resolution against Israel's nuclear activities.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Why is Israel's nuclear arsenal never the subject of investigation?
Silverstein: Well I think that the arsenal is well known to many people around the world and to scholars and analysts so it is only a secret to people who do not want to know about it. But I was aghast that this vote at the IAEA added support for the opposition to the resolution by the European Union nations and the United States and many Western countries, it seems to me to be the height of hypocrisy to be claiming that Iran is a violator of nuclear safeguards when Israel is actually the one who has at least 200 nuclear warheads and is a real concrete danger to peace and stability in the region.
When Iran is a member of NPT and is agreeing to the nuclear deal that has just been approved by the US Senate, so that seems to me the height of hypocrisy.
Press TV: Of course the fact that Israel’s nuclear arsenal upsets the military balance in the Middle East calls into question of the very fact that: Will Israel ever use its nuclear weapons?
Silverstein: Well hopefully Israel will not use its nuclear weapons, so then you ask the question: Why it needs 200 of them? Why it cannot be satisfied with less?
Certainly, the arsenal it has now could wipe out the region and even the entire world, if it was used. And I should tell you of furies that there have been instances in the past in history of Israel where certain Israeli leaders during war periods of crisis did advocate using a nuclear weapon and likely they were overruled. So this is a terrible insecurity and instability factor in the region that Israel has these weapons which it hopefully will not use but could.